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and she took a deep breath and turned to Serassi. “What about the others?”
    Serassi straightened. “None of the others are expecting a child, so there is no reason for them to be here.” She nodded toward the staircase. “You will find suitable clothing in the bedroom upstairs. Try to ignore the observers and act as naturally as you would if you were in your former lives. This habitat has been left open so the observers can ask you any questions they might have about what you are doing and why. Answer their questions promptly. Otherwise, you are free to live as you choose.”
    The tight walls of the living room pressed in toward Nok.
    â€œWhere is Cassian? Can we talk to him?”
    Serassi returned to inspecting the microwave. “If you believe that Cassian will take you away from this place, you are mistaken. He needed to hide Cora’s escape attempt and his own role in it from the Council. Tessela and Fian are two of his supporters, and thus they agreed to lie. But I care nothing for his mission. And so he offered to give me the two of you and your baby for my own research purposes, in exchange for my silence.” Serassi closed themicrowave door. “I am the one you answer to now.”
    Nok closed her eyes, pressing a hand to her throat.
    â€œWe have simulated day and night for you,” Serassi continued. “I will return tomorrow to perform the first round of tests, along with my fellow reproductive scientists. We expect you to comply with the mission of this facility and act in a way befitting parents-to-be. Cook meals and dine together. Prepare the house for your coming child. Follow whatever customs you would on Earth. And, most importantly, focus on your health. For the baby.”
    Her eyes, once more, went to Nok’s belly.
    Nok pressed her hands tighter to fight against the sense that Serassi was already communicating with her child; that Sparrow somehow already belonged more to this creature than to Nok.
    Serassi left through the red front door, which seemed a bit farcical; she could have stepped down through the missing wall. Once she was gone, Nok threw her arms around Rolf. She wanted to burst into tears, but they didn’t come. “How much time do we have until Sparrow is developed enough that they could take her away?”
    â€œI can’t be certain,” Rolf said. “Their time works differently. In the cage, I had started to work through the calculations—it’s an algorithm based on the speed of the rotations of this station and the gravitational pull of nearby planets. But then . . . Well.” His face went dark. “It didn’t seem to matter anymore.”
    Nok didn’t need to ask him what he meant. She and Rolf had both gone a little crazy in the cage, convinced that the unlimited candy and video games were paradise.
    â€œCan you try to figure it out again?” she asked, squeezing his arms. “We need to know how much time we have to . . .” Pressurebuilt behind her eyes but she still didn’t cry. This time, she wasn’t going to go along blindly, letting people order her to pose this way and that. She was done being a living doll. “. . . to escape . Sparrow is not going to grow up in this dollhouse with an alien for a mother. She’s going to grow up with you and me—far away from here.”

10
    Cora
    IT WAS A NOISY night. The brother and sister from Australia whispered to each other from their neighboring cells, and once Dane fell asleep, Pika started grumbling aloud to the bobcat’s tail about the yo-yo. The only quiet corner was Mali’s and the hyena’s, and Cora wondered what Mali must think of all this. Like Dane, Mali had once sided with their Kindred kidnappers. But that had changed when she’d learned Anya was alive—and the Kindred had lied about it.
    â€œCora,” Lucky whispered. “You still awake?”
    â€œAs if I could sleep.” She tapped