Adaptation 2: Inheritance by Malinda Lo

Author:Malinda Lo [Lo, Malinda]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: sf_history
Published: 2013-06-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

On Saturday during the ferry trip to Angel Island, Reese kept remembering what Julian had said about Amber. She’s been avoiding you. Reese didn’t see any sign of Amber during the drive to the ship, or while Nura Halba escorted them through the steel corridors to Eres Tilhar’s room. As the lesson began, she tried to forget about her in order to concentrate, but she couldn’t entirely erase Amber from her mind. She knew Amber must be nearby, and her unseen presence was like a phantom in the room. Reese was aware that Eres might be able to sense it in her; she only hoped the teacher wouldn’t mention it out loud.

“Last time you learned how to center your attention on yourself so that you are anchored in place,” Eres said. “Today you will learn how to maintain your position in your mental map while you connect with someone else.”

“I have a question,” Reese said, interrupting Eres in an effort to distract herself.

David shifted nearby. What are you going to ask? he thought.

We do have to get info for Hernandez, she reminded him.

“What is it?” Eres asked.

“With humans who aren’t adapted,” Reese said, “I know they can’t do susum’urda, but we can still sense their emotions, right? When we touch them, I mean.”

Eres regarded the two of them with an expressionless face that nonetheless made Reese feel like she had spoken out of turn during class. After a long moment of silence, Eres said, “Yes, you are able to sense human emotions when you touch them. I believe you’ve both already experienced this.”

“Yeah,” David said. “With my parents.”

“I felt it with mine too,” Reese said.

Eres adjusted the sleeves of the gray robe as if buying time. “It is true that humans are vulnerable to our abilities,” the teacher finally said. “That is why we must refrain from reading their feelings without their permission.”

They seem to want us to refrain from a lot of things, David noted silently.

Reese bit her lip to hide her smile. “So you’re saying we could do it, but we shouldn’t?”

The walls of the triangular room shimmered from blue to green. “Yes,” Eres said. “It isn’t ethical to access someone’s consciousness without their permission.”

“I get that,” David said. “But are you telling me that you guys have never done that? If you’re so interested in finding out about humans, wouldn’t you do it?”

Eres’s lips pressed together for a moment. “It is tempting to use our abilities to understand your people, but it is wrong for us to take those liberties with people who cannot resist.”

That doesn’t mean they’ve never done it, Reese thought.

“I see that you both doubt me,” Eres said. “Perhaps that’s because humans have a looser understanding of ethical behavior than we do.”

“That’s not fair,” Reese said immediately.

“Am I incorrect?”

“You can’t say that all humans do one thing or another,” Reese said. “We’re different. Some people are more ethical than others.”

Eres nodded. “Exactly. We Imrians are not like your people in this matter. We understand it would always be wrong to cross those lines.

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