like one of Mr. Snory’s lessons. Nobody messed around in class, at New Dawn. The punishments they gave you were too horrible. But the science teacher didn’t mind us talking, if it was about our work.
Tottie said that earth would cook, like meat.
“But cooking is the opposite of burning,” protested Lavrenty. “Cooking is so you can eat things. If something’s burned, you can’t eat it.”
“Burning is when you cook something too much,” said the girl we didn’t know. “How can it be too much,
and
the opposite?”
“Smarty pants,” said Tottie, “Sloe, you write down what I said.”
Ifrahim sniffed the earth sample. “You know what? I bet this is the meat. This is school dinner meat before they cook it.”
The meat was supposed to be a luxury. It wasn’t too bad once you knew to bite and swallow, never try to chew: but it
worried
us. Some people said it was dead bodies. You died here, you got minced and served in slices. Others believed it was our poo, collected from the toilets and processed in a big vat.
“Nah,” said Laventry. “All meat comes from factories.”
“Meat products didn’t always come from factories,” I announced. “They were once made from raw animal flesh.”
“Eeeughgh!”
“You mean, vermin like rats and cats?”
“Only bigger. They were called cows, pigs, sheep. I used to have toy ones.”
“You’re lying,” said the girl who wasn’t one of us, looking sick. “That’s disgusting, imagine eating a rat.”
She must have come from a very easy Settlement. . . . Bird jeered at her. “Ho, softie. You’d eat a rat if you were hungry. And you’d like it.”
“People ate wild animals too,” I said, getting carried away. “That’s the reason why they’re extinct, besides habitat loss. My mama told me, and she’s a scientist.”
“Oh, you big liar. You don’t even know what those fancy words mean.”
“Nyah,” said Bird, “your mam’s not a
scientist.
You’re the same as us, and your mam’s a convict and your dad was hung.”
It was an ordinary New Dawn insult, but I wasn’t as tough as I pretended. I was stabbed by the thought of Dadda, whose face I could not remember, and the noose going round his neck. I dared not show my pain, so I looked as proud as I knew how. “She’s a convict
now.
She got sent down because Dadda did something against the government. But she’s still a scientist, it doesn’t go away. She taught me about the earth going round the sun, and dinosaurs, and—”
I noticed they’d gone quiet. I looked around, and our teacher was standing there. He was looking at me, with a very shocked expression. I felt confused. What had I said? Had I been saying something rude, or cheeky?
“Hello, Mr. Pachenko,” said Rose, brightly. “Sloe was telling us about her mother, who taught her about the earth going round the sun, and—”
“Stop chattering and get on with your work,” snapped Mr. Pachenko.
He went away. I saw the flash of disappointment in Rose’s green eyes, and felt I’d scored a point. I would have bet she’d seen Mr. Pachenko coming over, and hadn’t warned me because she’d hoped I was going to get into trouble. Rose was like that: she had a mean streak a mile wide. But this time she’d failed.
A week later I was called out of class and taken to the principal’s office.
I was terrified. I couldn’t think what I had done, but I knew it made no difference. Once you were taken to the principal’s office you were going to get punished: and it would be something horrific. I was afraid I’d get the Box. Stronger children than me had been known to die, after they’d spent a day or a night in the Box. The warden walked ahead, her keys jangling. Behind me walked two guards with guns in the holsters at their waists: which was really, really scary. What could I possibly have done that was
so bad,
without knowing it? The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I imagined the men dragging me, kicking and
Tottie said that earth would cook, like meat.
“But cooking is the opposite of burning,” protested Lavrenty. “Cooking is so you can eat things. If something’s burned, you can’t eat it.”
“Burning is when you cook something too much,” said the girl we didn’t know. “How can it be too much,
and
the opposite?”
“Smarty pants,” said Tottie, “Sloe, you write down what I said.”
Ifrahim sniffed the earth sample. “You know what? I bet this is the meat. This is school dinner meat before they cook it.”
The meat was supposed to be a luxury. It wasn’t too bad once you knew to bite and swallow, never try to chew: but it
worried
us. Some people said it was dead bodies. You died here, you got minced and served in slices. Others believed it was our poo, collected from the toilets and processed in a big vat.
“Nah,” said Laventry. “All meat comes from factories.”
“Meat products didn’t always come from factories,” I announced. “They were once made from raw animal flesh.”
“Eeeughgh!”
“You mean, vermin like rats and cats?”
“Only bigger. They were called cows, pigs, sheep. I used to have toy ones.”
“You’re lying,” said the girl who wasn’t one of us, looking sick. “That’s disgusting, imagine eating a rat.”
She must have come from a very easy Settlement. . . . Bird jeered at her. “Ho, softie. You’d eat a rat if you were hungry. And you’d like it.”
“People ate wild animals too,” I said, getting carried away. “That’s the reason why they’re extinct, besides habitat loss. My mama told me, and she’s a scientist.”
“Oh, you big liar. You don’t even know what those fancy words mean.”
“Nyah,” said Bird, “your mam’s not a
scientist.
You’re the same as us, and your mam’s a convict and your dad was hung.”
It was an ordinary New Dawn insult, but I wasn’t as tough as I pretended. I was stabbed by the thought of Dadda, whose face I could not remember, and the noose going round his neck. I dared not show my pain, so I looked as proud as I knew how. “She’s a convict
now.
She got sent down because Dadda did something against the government. But she’s still a scientist, it doesn’t go away. She taught me about the earth going round the sun, and dinosaurs, and—”
I noticed they’d gone quiet. I looked around, and our teacher was standing there. He was looking at me, with a very shocked expression. I felt confused. What had I said? Had I been saying something rude, or cheeky?
“Hello, Mr. Pachenko,” said Rose, brightly. “Sloe was telling us about her mother, who taught her about the earth going round the sun, and—”
“Stop chattering and get on with your work,” snapped Mr. Pachenko.
He went away. I saw the flash of disappointment in Rose’s green eyes, and felt I’d scored a point. I would have bet she’d seen Mr. Pachenko coming over, and hadn’t warned me because she’d hoped I was going to get into trouble. Rose was like that: she had a mean streak a mile wide. But this time she’d failed.
A week later I was called out of class and taken to the principal’s office.
I was terrified. I couldn’t think what I had done, but I knew it made no difference. Once you were taken to the principal’s office you were going to get punished: and it would be something horrific. I was afraid I’d get the Box. Stronger children than me had been known to die, after they’d spent a day or a night in the Box. The warden walked ahead, her keys jangling. Behind me walked two guards with guns in the holsters at their waists: which was really, really scary. What could I possibly have done that was
so bad,
without knowing it? The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I imagined the men dragging me, kicking and
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