Dav next ran into Taasi twenty local days after their first encounter. He was again engaged in routine well-testing; this time on a different, undamaged side of what he thought was still the Isol stonework.

  Although so far, the Kyeros water supply had remained safe, the concern that the water might become contaminated was valid. It had happened too many times in other communities across Jaraida. Sometimes it was chemical contaminants, sometimes disease-bearing bacteria or viruses, or strange algae or what appeared to be blood. In Trinar and the communities around it, the contamination had taken lives. Now PASS tested all the outdoor wells in the two cities where they had bases, and in any town that they passed through.

  When, at the end of a Jaraidan day, he saw the youngsters who collected erthrop stop to refill containers of water at a well he had tested, Dav felt encouraged. There was little else he could do that was immediately useful. If he occasionally managed to engage a Jaraidan in brief conversation, so much the better.

  It worried Dav that testing the outdoor wells would not always protect people from contamination of the water inside the stoneworks. Though the outdoor wells connected to some of the internal water distribution systems, it was unlikely that the large stoneworks were not serviced by some more water sources. He hoped Jaraidans were able to check the water sources PASS could not access. Otherwise if whoever had been contaminating the wells in the past could get into the stoneworks, the people were still at risk.

  After a couple of years of Jaraidan disasters and silence from the government, the Alliance had sent PASS on a mission to provide humanitarian aid, slow down Kron encroachment on Jaraida and assess the overall situation. Testing the wells was part of the humanitarian aid, but for Dav it was also part of gathering information. It was while testing the wells that he had the best opportunity to talk to ordinary Jaraidans. Most were not very communicative, so when he ran into Taasi again he was glad.

  The girl seemed glad to see him also.

  “Sey n'eco,” she said, her voice cheerful. Behind her mask, she seemed to smile.

  Dav returned the smile automatically, and touched his forehead as he gave the usual response, “Das eco tyra.” And every day.

  “Is the water safe?” asked Taasi.

  “Yes. All the outdoor wells in Kyeros remain safe so far.”

  Taasi, who had been carrying a bulging produce sack and haversack, put these down before unclipping a waterbag from her belt.

  She was wearing the same sort of clothes she had worn when they had met, but this time her hair was in two braids. He wondered if she had been scolded for masquerading as a boy.

  “Your arm seems to have healed well,” he said, noting that the girl had no problem carrying the heavy produce bag.

  “Yes,” she said. “I was lucky. The healers took care of me.”

  “And your mani, is she well also?” he asked.

  He had been trying to match the little he knew about the woman with any Jaraidans who was known to have lived or studied outworld, but he’d had no luck so far. Maybe Taasi could tell him something.

  “She’s fine,” Taasi said demurely, in a way that suggested that she knew he was going to try to fish for information and she was not going to give it.

  “I was impressed,” he said. “That she spoke Panlex so well. How long was she off-world, do you know?”

  “I’ve never been away from Jaraida,” said Taasi. “Except a short trip to Nexus when I was a little kid. But I speak Panlex. And Alspik.”

  He was not sure if she was trying to evade answering the question about her guardian or just wanted to show off, but she succeeded in focusing his attention on her language skills.

  “Do you really?” he asked in Panlex, enunciating carefully so she would understand him.

  “Yes I do,” she replied fluently in the same language. “My father had me learn when I was little. He wanted me to attend the Academy.”

  She had more of an accent than her guardian did, but she spoke it grammatically and without hesitation.

  “Are you still planning to?” he asked.

  She must be around the age that one applied to the Academy. When he had thought she was a boy he had estimated 12 or 13 at most, but now he would guess 16 or even 17. It was hard to tell with the mask and all the protective clothing she was wearing.

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  “I wish,” she said. “It is not safe for Jaraidans to go off-world. Everyone who does, dies.”

  Dav was shocked. Surely she was exaggerating? Though he knew that there were no Jaraidans outside Jaraida these days, the assumption was that they had mostly returned to their world when what they called “The Troubles” started.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Don’t you know?” asked the girl.

  “Just before the destruction of Thualat, there was a major fire on Naulor that killed off several of the University students from Jaraida. Then some Jaraidan students at Hoan’s were in a flitter crash. And you must have heard of the spinners failure, that killed off about forty people returning to Jaraida from Nexus right after Thualat was destroyed. Those were the big ones. There were many other ‘accidents’ or unexplained deaths among Jaraidans who were off-world when our Troubles started.”

  Dav remembered the spinner incident, but he had not known that it had involved mostly Jaraidans returning home after the destruction of Thualat. He wondered if the Information and Intelligence folks had noticed. It certainly seemed suspicious, and he would raise the point in his report.

  “Who would want to kill Jaraidans who are off-world, especially if they are headed home?” he wondered aloud.

  As he’d expected, the girl blamed Kronval, but she could not cite any proof.

  “The Alliance should be investigating these things,” she said. “Spinners operate under the supervision of the Alliance, don’t they?”

  “A branch of the Alliance, yes,” Dav admitted. “I am sure they are investigating, but sometimes it is hard to pinpoint the cause for a major malfunction. No one truly understands spinner technology, we can use it, but not explain it.”

  It was what he had been taught as a student. Transfer through spinners was generally safe, but sometimes things went wrong in ways no one could explain.

  “Yeah, well,” said Taasi. “The evidence may be only circumstanced, but it’s clear to us that it is not safe for Jaraidans to go off-world to be outside Jaraida—not that being here is all that safe either,” she finished with a touch of sarcasm.

  “I can see why,” Dav said kindly. “Circumstantial evidence can be very convincing.” He did not want to embarrass her by correcting her, but she probably would appreciate knowing the right word.

  “Oh, right,” said Taasi. “I meant circumstantial, sorry.”

  She seemed embarrassed, and he was sorry.

  "Understandable confusion of words," he said. "Your Panlex is excellent, especially for someone who's hardly been off-world."

  “You were really thinking of attending the Academy?” he went on. She looked like a good candidate.

  “I took—and passed—the preliminary exams,” Taasi said proudly. “I have completed the standard curriculum. I would have been taking the main admission exams this year, but things have changed.”

  Dav had an idea.

  “Since you can’t go to the Academy, would you be interested in being an intern with PASS here?” he asked. “We often recruit local help, and when they show promise, we offer them classes and some training. It’s not the Academy, but you would learn a lot of what is covered there.”

  A flicker of interest escaped the girl’s careful control before she stifled it and shook her head.

  “It won’t be allowed.”

  “Why not? You would be safe working with us. We protect our interns. And we can certainly use you, with your knowledge of local languages and culture. We offer a stipend also, if that interests you.”

  “I can’t,” she said, not hiding her regret. “It would be against the no-contact rule.”

  “What no-contact rule?” Dav asked, surprised.

  “The one I’m violating right now,” Taasi said with a sudden chuckle before quoting in Arand: “Jaraidan citizens are to avoid unnecessary contact and fraternizing with outworlders of any nationality or affiliation.”

  “Where does this rule come from?” Dav said, surprised.

  “Our government, of course,” said Taasi as though the answer were obvious.

  “There are rumors that the Jaraidan government has collapsed,” Dav said slowly, wondering what she would answer. “Which government do you mean?”

  He had asked other Jaraidans about the Kron claim that Jaraida had no legitimate government before, and it usually just made the people too defensive to answer. Would it be any different with Taasi?

  He could sense a flash of anger, but the girl made an obvious effort to speak calmly. He could see why her family had thought she would do well at the Academy.

  “The Jaraidan government has not collapsed,” she said. “A lot of our leaders have died, but we keep going. The ‘no unnecessary contact’ rule comes from the Council of Elders and was Signed by the Ciardei.”

  The Ciardei! Did the Jaraidans still have one? Dav wanted to ask, but he had caught the flash of anger. Too many Jaraidans had refused to talk to him when he asked about their government. Better begin with a more indirect question.

  “Why doesn’t the government want contact with the Alliance?”

  “It’s not that,” Taasi said looking uncomfortable, as if she had said more than she should and felt unable to explain. She had not expected the question. “I think it is more about Kronval.”

  “But it means you think you shouldn’t be talking to me,” he put in. “And that you can’t apply to the Academy.”

  “Yeah—I don’t know. The Academy thing is because it is not safe. And the no-contact thing is also for our protection. I think. They say. It’s just a rule we have to follow.

  “I need to go now,” she added, suddenly bending to pick up her haversack. The ease with which she had been talking to him was gone, and she clearly wanted to get away.

  “I am just curious,” he persisted. “I can understand being wary of Kron and of other off-worlders who may be working with them. But PASS is neutral. We are here on a humanitarian mission. Why is contact with PASS restricted?”

  Taasi adjusted her haversack over her left shoulder.

  “Bunch of scared old folks,” she almost-muttered, a bit scornfully, in Arand.

  “Old folks?” Dav asked. From the perspective of a teener, just about any adult would seem to be old.

  “I shouldn’t have said that. Most of the Council isn’t old folks, though they act that way sometimes.”

  Obviously embarrassed, Taasi switched back to Panlex to correct herself. “There is a rule, and I have to follow it.”

  “PASS needs to know what is going on,” he coaxed. “We only hear the Kron version of things, and the occasional rumor.”

  “I am a minor,” protested Taasi. “I can’t speak for Jaraida, even if I understood everything that is going on.”

  “You won’t need to speak for Jaraida, just for yourself,” he said. “Will you ask your guardian if you can be an intern at the base? You would mostly be helping us understand the languages and the people. Nothing political.

  “If your family was ready to let you go to the Academy before the Troubles started, they must know that PASS is not the enemy,” he went on, as persuasively as possible. “You know it, or you wouldn’t be talking to me now. And your guardian talked to me too. Ask her. Maybe there is a loophole or exception for minors.”

  She shook her head.

  “There isn’t,” she said with the fatalism of young people convinced the adults will not make any allowances.

  “But I will try to persuade my guardian to allow it anyway," she went on more cheerfully. Thank you.”