Isolation Read Free Page B

more feet before the instructor blew his whistle. “Stop!” he said. “Everybody stop. Heron, Grant, why aren’t you walking?”
    Grant said nothing, looking down at the floor. Heron considered a moment, weighing the words carefully before answering—after all, she’d only been talking for two weeks as well, and her vocabulary was limited, her pronunciation unpracticed. “I don’t want to.” Her voice was still soft and lispy, her mouth unaccustomed to forming the sounds.
    The instructor stopped, his eyes wide. “Excuse me?”
    Heron examined the sentence again, certain that she’d said it right. Maybe he hadn’t understood her voice? She tried again, enunciating clearly. “I don’t want to.”
    “Soldier, that’s not a choice you get to make.”
    “I’m not a soldier,” she said. “I’m espionage.” It was one of the harder words she’d learned, and she was pleased with how well she’d pronounced it.
    “You are all soldiers,” said the instructor, walking slowly toward her. “No matter what your role is on the battlefield, you are all soldiers, and you answer to me. I am your superior officer.” He stopped in front of her. “What do we do to a superior, Heron?”
    She couldn’t read him on the link; she couldn’t read any of the instructors, only the Partials. The instructors were something called humans, and all Heron knew about them was that they were better at nearly everything—they could walk, they could run, they were stronger, they knew more, and most powerful of all, they could hide their emotions from the link. You never knew what they were thinking, or what they were going to do. The Partials in the room watched with fear, wondering what would happen, and Heron felt their fear through the link like a hammer. She answered carefully.
    “We obey our superiors.”
    “That is exactly right,” said the instructor. “You obey—it’s the very first thing you learned on the very first day you fell out of your vats. Not ‘obey your superior if you want to,’ but ‘obey your superior no matter what.’ You obey immediately, you obey completely, and when I tell you to stand up, you damn well stand up. Heron, stand up.”
    She thought about staying in her chair, but he was right—he was her superior, and she had to obey. She rose to her feet.
    “Very good,” said the instructor. “Now, I want you to demonstrate something for me. Grant, come over here.”
    Grant hobbled toward them. The instructor addressed the class in a loud voice. “The link that connects you can also be used by your leaders; it enforces obedience, should a soldier ever be so horrible as to disobey again. Espionage models have a small bit of authority over soldier models, so we’re going to use Heron for this. Grant, I want you to put your finger on your nose, and keep it there no matter what Heron says, okay?”
    Grant nodded. The instructor turned to Heron. “Tell him to move his finger.”
    Heron looked at Grant. “Move your finger.”
    He moved his finger.
    The instructor laughed. “Come on, Grant; I told you not to move it. Put it back and keep it there. Try really hard this time.”
    Grant put his finger on his nose and stared at Heron, daring her to do her worst. She could feel his determination through the link, a giant wall ready to keep his finger motionless. She said it again. “Move your finger.”
    The data went out through the link, creeping into his mind; his hand shook as his body tried to move his finger and hold it in place at the same time. His face turned red with the effort, and finally his hand came down.
    The instructor smiled. “See how this works? You do what you’re told because you are designed to do it. You can’t help yourselves, so don’t bother trying. Now, Grant, tell Heron to touch her finger to her nose.”
    Grant appeared confused but looked at Heron anyway. “Touch your finger to your nose.”
    Heron waited for the power of the link, but nothing came; she felt the