7
THE BUS TURNED OFF the main road and crossed a canal where a white swan paddled across mirror-like water.
When we turned the corner into the street that ran along the other side of the canal and the display on the bus said, Arrival in three minutes, the ever-present sounds in my head winked out. Thayu noticed it, too, and Veyada and Evi both stirred at the same time. We all looked at each other.
I raked my hand through my hair. My feeder’s legs pulled loose from the skin and resettled when I dropped them again. It made no difference. The transmission was dead.
“It’s a dead zone,” Veyada said. “All communication is blocked.”
“Whose dead zone and why?”
“The court’s, I presume. They really don’t want us to talk to anyone while we’re here.”
“They told us we couldn’t speak to Melissa o
