Chapter 26
More than anything, we soon learned, the Citizens wanted answers.
But the answers were embedded in the broken strands of the past, sealed with strings and wax, packed in dusty pockets and the eroded memory of an eager civilization that began to move forward so quickly there was no reason to look behind.
The day after the telecast, Staris went to the surrogate center and collected the residents onto his bus. Sorrel and I stood at the gate and cheered their freedom, relieved to see Breea, Marta, and Leslie among them, but the girls themselves were quiet and uncertain. It was only when they were stationed in their rooms, tucked into comfortable beds with plump pillows and windows closed against the frost, that the possibilities of freedom became apparent to all of us, including
