Chapter 22

Nessa placed one foot forward. Jamison flailed and waved her down.

“Stay,” he pleaded. “I’m in enough trouble as it is.”

He lowered his backpack and yanked open the zipper. He produced a thin metal device. It contained a tablet, or log-drive, as they called them in Nessa’s world because they had a storage drive and were used to log information.

“I still have my spelling words for language class,” he announced to Nessa.

He fidgeted with the device, flipping it over until Nessa wanted to scream, and he muttered:

“Today was supposed to be the test.”

Nessa frowned and blinked. She could see in his eyes that his mind had wandered to whatever test he had mentioned. Jamison shook himself back to the moment.

“I want to teach you English,” he told her as he powered on the tablet screen. “Can you turn off your translator?”

She situated herself on the sleeping pod, and waited.

“First word is elder,” Jamison read. “Like, the elder race. Joven elder?”