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fought to keep the twitching corners of his mouth from turning into a grin. Zach was amusing him. Everything seemed so funny to Lizney. ‘Maybe she likes you.’
     
    Oh, this is a life talk. ‘She’s just a silly girl.’
     
    ‘She won’t always be. And someday you might not be a silly boy.’ Zach didn’t want to answer. He just wanted to have his lesson and go. ‘Okay, okay. You still choose to keep that block up. When you change your mind I am here to talk. If you would like.’
     
    Not likely, weirdie.
     
    Lizney whisked the stream closed and the air was empty save for the dust motes.
     
    ‘Now, I have to talk to you about what has been happening in Korea.’ His teacher took a deep breath. ‘You will have noticed in your last immersion that there was an increase in red zones.’ Zach nodded. ‘And you spent some time investigating the reason why.’ There was no denying it. It was in his stream. ‘I have to ask you, for your own safety, not to try to cross the barriers between you and this information. There is a quarantine over the area and Services is asking everyone to keep clear. Both on and off the Weave.’
     
    ‘What is it?’
     
    ‘I don’t know. I don’t know if anybody knows.’
     
    ‘Is it the psionics?’
     
    ‘It seems to be inorganic. You saw that on the satellite feed. Points off for not remembering. And points off because it was due to your obsession with the psis. Your bias is clouding you.’
     
    Zach felt annoyed again. He should have remembered that but he didn’t deserve to be fined for it. ‘Pause it, why does this affect the Weave?’
     
    Lizney smiled. ‘Okay, you can have some points back for asking. The answer I have been given is that the Weave quarantine is a precautionary measure.’
     
    ‘So what is it?’ Zach asked again.
     
    ‘Look, Zachary. Feel free to watch the Weave for more information. At the moment Services have the matter well in hand. Now, do you have any questions for me today, or should we look over your math?’
     
    Zach thought for a moment. He had been meaning to ask about Lizney’s lack of symbiot for a while, but it seemed rude to ask.
     
    ‘I don’t know how to ask. It is personal.’
     
    ‘Don’t be shy, Musashi. I am here to be asked anything.’
     
    ‘It is about you.’
     
    ‘I see.’ Lizney’s warmth disappeared. ‘What have you found out?’
     
    I’ve found out you’re afraid of what I will find. That means it must be something bad. He would put a search through the malefactor list, maybe a visual would turn up something. ‘I haven’t found anything out yet, but I know that most teachers have symbiots. You don’t.’
     
    ‘Oh, I see.’ His relief was obvious. Even to a thirteen-year-old. ‘I’m not sure I can answer that without giving away the whole mystery. Why do you think I don’t wear a symbiot? Reason it out for me.’
     
    ‘I think you’re not allowed one,’ Zach said.
     
    ‘And is that the only possibility? Could it not be by my own choice?’
     
    ‘But you are a Weave teacher. And a scout master. Everyone old enough has one, even Lily.’ A small one, like a bangle.
     
    Miles’s smile was thin and fixed, but he nodded at each suggestion. ‘Or I might value my privacy.’
     
    ‘Nyeah.’ Zach batted that idea away with his hand. ‘You’re not superstitious.’ Believing in privacy was like believing that a camera could steal your soul.
     
    ‘Oh? Is superstition the only reason for people to want privacy?’
     
    ‘Well, no. Of course not. Bad people need privacy to hide what they are doing.’
     
    ‘Maybe I am a bad person,’ Lizney suggested.
     
    ‘But then you wouldn’t be allowed to be my scout master,’ Zach answered.
     
    ‘True. Maybe I have something to hide?’
     
    ‘Like what?’
     
    ‘Musashi. I thought we had established the rules. That is for me to know and you to find out. I’m not going to tell you anything. You won’t learn that way.’
     
    ‘So you