*****
The next day as he stowed his jacket in his locker, Keelic sensed something behind him. Instead of turning around, he sidled away, and looked back. Thom stood there. His eyes were slits, and he rotated a hand to show what he held.
Feeling afraid and weak, Keelic rushed to Ermolian History. He tried to strengthen his resolve and overcome his fear by making fists, but now that Thom was actively hunting him, he felt too afraid to fight. He wasn’t sure, but it had looked like a ceramic knife in Thom’s palm.
Between classes, Uban told him, "Thom’s going to space you so hard. Going to cut your balls off and feed them to you."
Back on Pesfor 3, a lot of kids had little weapons. It was a status thing. No one actually used them. Would Thom? Something about the kid made Keelic feel helpless, stealing his confidence.
What would happen if Keelic told on him? If Thom hid the knife, then Keelic would have a planet of trouble for lying, and Thom would get the upper hand in every way. There didn’t seem to be a way out.
The wind was picking up, and Keelic had to lean into it to get to the Study Hall.
He finished Mr. Hallod’s exercise early, got up, and went over to a window to watch dark clouds roil over the school. Rain struck in sheets and the wind heaved against the little Study Hall. He imagined a thousand lightning strikes destroying the schoolhouse and everyone in it.
"I like the storms," said Mr. Hallod at Keelic’s side.
So did Keelic. Especially if they swept away the school in a tremendous flood.
The instructor asked, "What do you want to become?"
"What?"
"What do you dream of doing in the future?"
Keelic did not have to think about his answer. "Starship captain."
Mr. Hallod nodded. "So does my daughter. She wants to be captain of the Inquiry when it’s completed."
Keelic held very still. The Inquiry was a Pathfinder vessel, the largest ever, still under construction. But you couldn’t just go volunteer for the Pathfinders. They came to you, or you were born into a Pathfinder family. Either way, the implications of Mr. Hallod’s statement were stunning.
"Would you like to meet my daughter, Keelic?"
Keelic said something unintelligible.
Mr. Hallod took the sound as an affirmative. "Talk to your parents. Tell them I’d like to meet them, that I offer an invitation to dine at my house. The rain has subsided—you better get to your next class. See you on the morrow."
Splashing through puddles as he ambled back to the school, Keelic viewed the school differently, as though he were looking down at its ugly bulk from above. He entered just as the end-class chime rang. Students burst into the hall, Thom among them. Keelic did not look away when Thom smirked at him. The Chief Instructor’s son narrowed his eyes and started toward Keelic, who thrust out his chin in defiance, then turned and got lost quick in the crowd.
At home, Keelic waited until dinner to mention Mr. Hallod’s offer.
"Mr. Hallod told me to ask you something." His parents looked at him, and he paused to gather courage. "He said to invite. We are invited to his house for dinner."
His mother smiled. "That’s excellent. I’ve wanted to meet him for weeks. When, did he say?"
Keelic shrugged.
Father said to Mother, "Why do you want to meet him?"
"He’s Keelic’s Accelerated Mathematics instructor."
"I know that."
"And he’s a member of the Generalist Society."
"Hmm."
"‘Hmm’ what?" asked mother.
"If he’s anything like Dr. Loren, it’ll be a short evening for me."
"You didn’t like Dr. Loren?"
"He didn’t like me."
"What gave you that idea?"
"Everything I said at the conference was wrong, according to him."
"He thought he could suggest some new ideas," said Mother.
"The man tried to teach me exobiology, Sarah. He had no specific training, none of them do, and they all think they can reroute the galaxy. Monumental arrogance. I’m surprised anyone puts up with them."
Keelic watched his mother as she considered her reply, waiting for her to refute his father’s statements, but she returned to her food without comment. They ate in silence. Keelic went up to his room after finishing. The alien was on his bed, and Keelic snuggled next to him.
"Anny?"
"Do you want some music?"
"Who is Mr. Hallod?"
"He is a well-respected member of the Generalist Society."
Keelic knew Mr. Hallod was different. But what was a generalist? Did they have a connection to the Pathfinders? Keelic thought about Leesol, and what it might be like to meet her. His palms got sweaty at the same time a chill spread over him. She wanted to captain the Inquiry. Usually only members of the oldest Pathfinder families crewed the top-class far-space probes.
"Is Mr. Hallod Crew?" he asked Anny.
"I don’t have access to—"
"Yes you do."
"Keelic."
"You can get anything. I’ve seen you."
"I have set an unfortunate precedent. Do you know what precedent means?"
Keelic thought of lying, telling her he did, but he knew she would ask him to prove it, so he didn’t answer, and pulled over his console. She always changed the subject when she wasn’t going to do what he wanted. He logged into the planetbase and started queries for all information on Mr. Hallod. Anny was silent.
One reply appeared on his screen. Keelic frowned. There was almost no information. There was no data on where Mr. Hallod was from, what skills he had, or even where he lived. His dataddress was an infobank in the city. Beyond that, there was nothing. Leesol wasn’t even mentioned. When Mr. Hallod had spoken about Leesol’s desire to be a captain of the greatest Pathfinder probe ship ever constructed, he had talked like it was a possibility. There was none of the condescending attitude that people got when Keelic told them what he wanted to be. The lack of information on Mr. Hallod confirmed it, as well as the fact that Anny wouldn’t even discuss getting the information.
So Mr. Hallod was Crew. But what was he doing on Ermol? It seemed amazing that the planetbase had no info on him at all, but maybe when you were a member of an elite organization of super famous explorers, you could control your metadata.
Keelic submitted a query on himself to see what returned. He was the son of Sarah Louise and Carl Bend Travers. It told when he attended school, what level he was at, what classes he was taking, how old he was, where he had lived before coming to Ermol, and gave his personal dataddress. There were other options for more info on his house and parents. He picked the house; a Class Six structure, armed, with a Twelfth-Generation Announcer Matrix. There was even an image and map.
"Can anybody get this info?"
Anny paused almost imperceptibly. "Yes."
The Patamic forest swayed in a brisk wind as Keelic looked south toward the city.
"What’s my security?"
"You should know that, Keelic."
"Child Beta. I can’t even have encryption."
"You will be upgraded on your twelfth birthday to Beta-One. You’ll get Gamma when you’re fifteen."
"Can I block this info from general access?"
"Anyone with an Adult Beta or better will still have access unless your parents restrict it more."
"How many people have Adult Beta?"
"I don’t have—"
"Never mind."
He pushed the console away, and rolled onto his belly to look northward at the bluff.
Anny asked, "Why are you worried about this?"
He didn’t answer.
"Your father believes in Open Systems Philosophy. If all datapaths are open, no one—"
"I know what OSP is. It’s stupid."
"I have warned your father about being too open."
Keelic spun around to look at the ceiling. "You think he’s wrong, too?"
"The Philosophy was designed t
o promote the exchange of data without the overhead of complex security in an egalitarian environment. It also provides for monitoring and enforcement if abused. Do you know all those words?"
"Yes, yes."
"Tell me what egalitarian means."
"For the same, for everyone?"
"Correct. The Philosophy worked well on Pesfor 3 where the planetbase is composed of infobanks of multiple races, but here the planetbase is too small, and enforcement is not a priority. Someone could easily misuse their rights."
"Anny?" said Keelic.
After a second, Anny replied, "What are you planning, Keelic?"
"Will you limit access to my info?"
"You can do that yourself."
"You know what I mean."
"I have implemented your Child Beta security."
Keelic frowned. Anny was not cooperating.
His father’s voice said, "Keelic, why have you activated your security?"
"I don’t want people from school doing queries about me."
"You met your friend Tamarin because he did a query on you."
"This is different." Keelic took a chance. "Anny, how many queries have been made on me?"
"Sixteen."
Keelic was shocked.
"Come down to my office, and we’ll talk about this," said his father.
After an hour-long lecture on the benefits of the Open Systems Philosophy, Keelic returned to his room and collapsed on his bed.
He had looked at the queries with his father. Four were routine, the rest were various data miners, advertisers and the like, but two of them were significant to Keelic. One was by Keelic’s archenemy, Thom. The other had been done by Uban. Two enemies gathering data on him.
Keelic’s father convinced him, almost, that the data generally available wouldn’t be useful to anyone. Keelic hated the idea, anyway.
Back in his room he asked Anny, "Why didn’t you tell me about the queries?"
"You have never cared about it until now. I will tell you about any new ones."
The alien linked and started to build a starship, but Keelic pulled away. "I have to think."
His console came on, and his father appeared on it next to Mr. Hallod.
"Hello, Keelic," said Mr. Hallod.
Nervous, Keelic nodded.
"I am pleased to tell you that your family will be our guests this endweek eve."
Keelic nodded again.
"Farewell. I will see you on the morrow."
The console went dark. Keelic sighed and flopped back on the pillows. His heart was beating, but he wasn’t sure what to feel. What would Leesol think of him? The alien watched him with speculative eyes, but didn’t communicate anything.