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unlocked. Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let
the bedbugs bite!"
    "That's just what Mom always says!" Tim
replied before I could unstop my tongue. "Every night!"
    "What a remarkable coincidence!" Li
observed. Then he smiled wider than ever and was gone.
    Back home at the ranch Tim and I slept in
separate bedrooms but shared a sink, toilet, and shower. I felt
lonely as I brushed my teeth in more than half of a sink for almost
the only time ever and bathed without fear of being interrupted by
a glassful of ice-water tossed over the top of the shower curtain.
I'd felt the same way back then that I did now; it was hard to get ready for bed without someone to talk to and joke with. How
was I supposed to relax and try to make sense of the day?
    Somehow I eventually found myself under the
covers with the lights out, but even as tired as I was all I could
manage was to toss and turn. Up until yesterday I'd led a fairly
simple, straightforward life. I'd been a rancher's son and half a
set of twins, and the life of a rancher's son was hardly a complex
thing. I'd hunted, fished, played, and done school-time with my
mother instead of attending the public places she didn't like very
much. Looking back, it all seemed like a sunny, happy dream. Having
a twin had only made it better. But now it was all gone away
forever, except for Timothy. I'd never hunt on the ranch again,
never hug Mom after getting a math problem three grades ahead of me
right, never listen to Dad as he rode about the ranch pointing out
landmarks and telling the stories of our forebearers. All of that
was gone, gone, gone! And who knew when Timmy might be taken away
as well by aliens who didn't seem to care in the least what was
good for us or what we wanted?
    Pretty soon I was crying worse than anytime
I could ever remember. I was too old for that sort of thing, and
the shame just made it worse. I tried and tried to force it back,
but it was just too big and strong and overwhelming and flowed
through me like an unstoppable river. I wailed like a baby, to be
completely honest, alternately feeling sorry for myself and
terrible about dragging Mr. Li into the mess as well.
    Once I was nearly recovered, I remembered
Linda the hotel manager who I'd gotten in such terrible trouble.
She was going to be arrested simply because I'd talked to her! That
was the most awful thing I'd ever done to anyone, I decided; what a
miserable piece of human garbage I was! And so the tears began anew
and went on and on, until finally sometime well after midnight I
was all cried out . . .
    . . . and still too keyed up to sleep! I rolled from
side to back to other-side to stomach, but it did no good. Then I
moaned at how awful tomorrow was going to be, having to figure out
all sorts of new rules and alien-stuff without even having gotten
any sleep. Without Mom and Dad's help, either.
    That got me thinking about Mr. Li again. Who was this guy, really? He was all I had besides Tim , and he seemed nice enough. But
he'd been awfully quick to turn Linda in. After, I reminded myself,
she'd spat in his face and called him a collaborator. Which he was,
really. Just like Dad and everyone else trying to live up to the
terms of the Treaty. But Dad was no turncoat, of that I was
certain. He'd never have given up, except that we'd all have surely
died. When the only choice was for everyone everywhere to die, well
. . . admitting defeat and becoming part of the government
enforcing a cruel treaty was no shame. Yes, Mr. Li had done some
really strange stuff so far. Yet somehow I knew Linda was
wrong—like Dad, my tutor was doing what had to be done for the good
of everyone, even when it hurt him. Even before he'd used Mom's
favorite formula to send us to bed, in my heart I'd been sure he
was one of the good guys.
    Now it was two in the morning; the clock by
my bed said so, even though the time didn't seem real somehow. I
couldn't ever remember being awake at two AM before. It was an
unreal time, one I'd heard