Child of Earth by David Gerrold Page B

sewing you a new kilt.”
    But just because we said it, that didn’t mean we could do it as easily. After Tildie’s family and the others left, things felt different—like maybe the Gate Authority wasn’t as much on our side as we’d thought. And I got the feeling that some of the parents resented the scouts now. Nobody said anything, but I saw people exchanging looks or lowering their eyes or just not raising their hands in Meeting anymore.
    It bothered me, because Tildie’s family had made its own choice. In fact, Administor Moffin made a big speech, saying the same things Mom-Woo had said, about how all of us would select ourselves in or out by our commitment. Nobody did it to us, we did it ourselves, so we had no one to blame for our mistakes. We had all agreed to the Covenant with the Mother Linnea when we entered the dome, so we had no right to complain when they asked us to keep our agreement. It made sense when Administor Moffin explained it that way, but it still annoyed a lot of folks, because so many of the agreements seemed so silly. But they only seemed silly if you looked at them with an Earth-mind. If you looked at them with a Linnean-mind, they didn’t seem silly at all.
    And Jaxin told us kids the same thing. We’d see the importance of our lessons once we got over to the other side—if we got over at all. The incident with Tildie’s family had caused the Training Board to reevaluate large parts of the program. Originally the idea was to train us as rigorously as the scouts, but if families couldn’t handle the training, then perhaps it was a mistake to send families over. But they didn’t dare reduce the level of the training either.
    Finally, about two weeks later, the Training Board held a special meeting about it. Administor Moffin presided. He didn’t look any friendlier than before. I’d heard he had a lot on his mind. Some kind of incident had occurred on the other side, but nobody would tell us what had happened. Anyway, he rang his bell and started talking almost immediately.
    â€œWe cannot reduce the level of your training. We cannot. We will not risk your lives, nor will we risk the lives of any of our scouts. The Gate Authority has a contingency plan and they’ve authorized me to present it to you. You have a choice. Any family here can abandon participation in this program, without penalty , and we will transfer you to a different
program, a different gate going to one of the uninhabited worlds—or you can recommit to a higher standard.”
    â€œWhat do you mean by a higher standard?” That was Da-Lorrin.
    â€œFor one thing, we may have to lengthen your time in training. For another, we may not let as many of you pass through Callo City on Linnea as we had planned. Some of you will have to head directly west instead. We intend to reevaluate everything for its appropriateness to the long-range plan. And no—” he added, “this has nothing to do with the Cretonne family. Some of you may have heard that they’ve filed a lawsuit. We expect the court will dismiss the suit, as it has done with similar suits in the past. In the meantime, we have to protect all of our people on Linnea, and all of you who want to cross over. So spend some time among yourselves, talking it over. Talk to our scouts, ask them what they think. We’ll talk again next week.”
    Walking up the slope back to our cabins, Gampa said, “A cold splash of water really wakes you up, doesn’t it?” Rinky and I started a fire and Gamma put up water for tea. The family settled around the big table and Mom-Lu started slicing bread and put out a plate of fresh-churned boffili butter. We hadn’t earned enough points for jelly yet.
    Morra and Bhetto and Irm sat quietly at their end of the table, not speaking, but looking very grim. So finally, Mom-Lu said, “For God’s sake, Irm, spit it out before it poisons