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IBI is a big corporation who…who knows what they’re doing.”
    “I know,” said Sarah, stung. Something in her tone woke Fagin. He licked her cheek, concerned, then heaved himself up and went out to investigate the yard. His departure left her alone on the floor, alone in the house…alone in Kansas.
    Silence, silence. They breathed.
    “Maybe you should just come home,” Kate said quietly. “Please, Sarah. I’d feel better.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Sure you can. Put everything back in the van, grab Fagin, leave the possessed coffee machine…if you need money, I’ll wire you some, just—”
    “Seriously, I can’t, Kate. I’m on contract.”
    “You what?”
    “IBI’s employment contract. They explained it like…like a studio contract for an actor? I can’t go get it because it’s filed at the office, but the thing is, they hold my employment rights for one year, with an option to renew for ten years, up to five times.” She laughed, a little nervously. “If they like me.”
    Kate’s picture wavered wildly. She was shaking it or smacking it, trying to make her own picture come in clearer. When it settled, she was closer, all eyes and a pinched wrinkle between them. “You can’t quit?”
    “I can, but it’s breach of contract and they can sue me. Also, no one else will be able to hire me, whether I’m working for them or not, until my contract expires.”
    “Jesus.”
    “They can also…” She hesitated, then plunged ahead. This part had bothered her all day. “They can also redirect me within the company without my consent. Like…they can move me to any other camp, or to any other department where they need people…even security, it said.”
    Only it hadn’t said ‘security’ in the fine print. It said ‘military applications’.
    “But that’s not right, is it?” Sarah asked, rubbing at her tingling, dog-free legs anxiously. “I mean…they can’t really make me carry a gun, can they?”
    Silence.
    “Kate?”
    “I think you’re being silly,” Kate said, crisply and with finality. “That clause is only in there to apply to all the ex-cops and army reservists who join up. IBI is a…like the PeaceCorps, for Christ’s sake. Sure, they have to have people with guns, because the bugs are dangerous, but arming a bunch of untrained yokels is even more dangerous. Look, I have to go. You go have a fun weekend, eat your Chinese food, and just don’t be such a goose, okay?”
    “Okay,” Sarah said in a little voice.
    “It’s a good job. You’ll do well, make lots of money…and when the year’s up, you can come home and we’ll…we’ll figure out where to go next, okay? But stop freaking out about little things. You do your job and let the big boys do theirs, okay?”
    “I—”
    “I love you, Sarah,” Kate said, almost vehemently. “Get a new paz.” And hung up without waiting for an answer.
    Sarah switched her paz off and sat in the dark. After a while, Fagin came back in and lay down beside her. She rested her hand on his shaggy back and stared into space, listening to the echoes of their dual breath in the empty room.
     

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THREE
     
    It was dark when they came in from the Heaps, and the first thing Sanford saw when he turned onto the litter-strewn road leading to his house was his door standing open.
    Robbed. Again. Living this close to the wall, the risk of home invasion was far less than it might be in the unpatrolled middlegrounds of the prison, but it still happened and he had more to lose than most. He swore, waking his son, who had dozed off against his shoulder. T’aki looked around, at once tense and alert. Sanford clicked reassuringly, told him it was nothing and tried to mean it, but the words were bitter in his throat and his son’s anxiety did not lessen.
    “What happened?” he asked, his tiny hands slipping between the plates armoring Sanford’s neck, seeking comfort by touching skin, wanting to be touched in return. “Why is the