Aubry felt as if the ground had been pulled from under her, and she was back in free fall. First her mother was being detained, and now she was to be separated from her father, kept in the Met. They aren’t going to get any use out of me, Aubry told herself. I’ll kill myself before I’ll work for the Department of Immunity. But the promise sounded hollow, even in the flush of the moment. They could probably do whatever they wanted with her, and she would have precious little to say about it. She was only eleven.
“I’m eleven,” she said.
“What?” said Leo Sherman.
“I’m not a baby. Tell me what you want me to do.”
She felt her father’s hand on her shoulder. He gave her a quick squeeze. “Yes, tell us both. Do you have any idea how we can get out of this mess?”
Leo Sherman grinned. He seemed to have a normal-sized smile for his too-small head, and his teeth seemed to take up half his face. Then he was all seriousness once again.
“It’s going to be difficult, but there is a way,” said Leo Sherman. “There’s another port that is less closely guarded. We think we can get Aubry out there.”
“Then let’s go,” said Kelly. “As fast as we can.”
Leo Sherman shook his head. “You don’t understand, Mr. Graytor. We only have so much space. We’ve already sent three ships out, and we still have a lot of half converts waiting. Hundreds now. It could become thousands. After the war really starts, there won’t be any more ships getting out. Not so easily.”
“What are you saying?”
“Aubry will have to go with me. You and your son can go the normal way, and so you must. I’ll take her to the other ship.”
“You think I’m going to trust my daughter to a stranger?” said Kelly. “That would be worse than getting stranded here.”
“No it wouldn’t,” said Leo Sherman. “The Friends have learned of plans for work camps, Mr. Graytor. It’s claimed that all the computing power is needed to deal with the hostilities from the outer system. To model solutions.”
“That is absurd.”
“It is merely a rationale,” said the smaller man, “to allow the Department of Immunity to do whatever the hell it wants with free and half converts.”
“But everybody has a convert portion to their personality,” said Aubry. “Mine just happens to be a little more sophisticated because of who my mom is.”
“That’s right,” said Leo Sherman. “Everybody has a convert portion. We think it will start with the free converts, the ones without bodily aspects, and then . . . we don’t believe the Department of Immunity is going to stop there. But one problem at a time. We have to get Aubry to safety, Mr. Graytor.”
“I understand what you are saying. Who is we? I always thought the Friends of Tod were a bunch of—well, fuzzy-headed Mergies. All I see is you,” her father said. “And I still don’t know if I can trust you.”
“Mergies or not, the Friends are on your side, Mr. Graytor,” Leo Sherman began, then he was silent for a moment. Aubry realized he was hearing voices in the grist. “Danis Graytor was officially denied exit at her hearing, sir. There isn’t much time now. They may detain you and your son on suspicion of aiding and abetting.”
“This is crazy,” Kelly said. “I’m a Met citizen . . . I . . . all right. We have to come to a decision. Obviously.”
Aubry’s father put his hand to his nose, took it away. He touched his neck, kneaded his shoulder. “Obviously,” he murmured.
Aubry realized that she had to help her father. He was not going to be able to let her go off on her own, yet he could not keep her with him.
“You have to take care of Sint,” she said to him. “That’s what you have to do. You know I can take care of myself pretty good. A lot better than Sint is able. You have to let me go.”
“But you’re my dear. My darling,” Kelly murmured. “I can’t risk losing you all. I can’t—”
“You’re not going to lose me, Dad,” Aubry said. “We’re all going to get away from here.”
Kelly looked at her with fervent desperation in his eyes a moment longer. Then he seemed to pull himself together and be the man Aubry had always known.
“All right,” he said. “She’s going with you, Sherman.” He looked the other man straight in the eye. Many a stock-market trader had received that look and immediately put aside any plans to put one over on Kelly Graytor. It was the look that he gave Aubry when times for objections and complaints were over and it was time to do what her father told her. “I appreciate all you and your people have done for my family,” he said. “If there is any way I can ever repay you, I will do so. But, sir—” He put a hand on Leo’s arm, squeezed it, not hard, but, firmly. “Take care of my daughter.”
Leo Sherman looked him in the eye, right back in the eye, Aubry saw. Not very many people could do that so easily with her father. “I’ll treat her as if she were my own sister,” the little man said.
“Very well,” Kelly said, and released him. He turned to Aubry. “See you soon, Aubry. Your mother and I love you.” He opened his arms and she fell into them.
“See you, Dad,” she said. She hugged Sint, too, who was crying, and told him to take care of their father. Then Kelly took Sint’s hand and Leo Sherman took Aubry’s and the family went in opposite directions down the main corridor.