Tally returned his gaze. "So how's that going over there? Coming to any decisions?"
In perfect English, Frizz said, "They don't want me to talk to you!" He choked to a halt, clamping both hands over his mouth.
Tally raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Nothing!" Aya said in English. "We're still discussing everything, that's all."
Shay gestured with her chin. "Well, you better hurry up. Looks like someone's coming to visit."
Aya looked up and saw that the metal door to the drivers' cabin was swinging open.
Oh, great, she thought.
More people for Frizz to talk to.
Two of the inhumans floated in.
Even here inside the car, they wore their hoverball rigs. The man glided across the cargo hold over their heads. The other, a woman, waited, hands grasping the edges of the doorway, fingertips glistening with needles. Behind her Aya could see the drivers' cabin, where two more inhumans were seated at the car's controls.
This close, the freakish faces were even more unsettling. The inhumans' eyes were so far apart that they seemed to point in different directions, like the gaze of a fish. The floating man took them all in without turning his head, fixing Aya with one steely eye. He kept himself in place by stirring the hot, muggy air with his hands and strange bare feet.
"I see you are awake," he said. "And no one is injured?"
His Japanese was imperfectAya realized that after six hours in flight the hovercar could be anywhere in Asia. She wondered where the inhumans really came from.
"We're all in one piece," she said. "But not very happy."
"We did not expect to have to take seven of you," he answered, performing a little midair bow.
"We apologize for any discomfort."
"Discomfort!" Hiro cried. "You kidnapped us!"
The inhuman nodded, an expression of regret passing over his strange features. "It is necessary to hide ourselves for the moment. You have to be silenced."
"Silenced?" Aya said, swallowing. "You mean you're going to kill us?"
"No, indeed! And I am sorry for my Japanese," he said. "I only mean you cannot communicate with your home. But very soon there will be no more need for secrecy, and you may return."
"Why can't we go now?" Aya asked.
"We land shortly, then we can explain everything," he said. "In the meantime, my name is Udzir.
May I ask yours?"
Aya paused for a moment, then bowed and introduced herself. Ren and Hiro followed suit. The Cutters got the hint, giving false names when Udzir turned to them.
But his stare lingered on Tally.
"You do not seem like the others," he said.
Aya wondered exactly what he meant. Back in the Prettytime, the Global Concord Committee had averaged the different regions of the world, and the crazy surgery since the mind-rain had only further confused the old Rusty genetic categories. But uglies still showed their heritage, and the Cutters' smart-plastic masks didn't look particularly Asian.
But Udzir was singling Tally outhad he glimpsed a hint of uncured Special in her eyes?
"It's true," Frizz said through gritted teeth. "She isn't like the rest of us."
Aya snapped out of her silence. "What Frizz means is that our friends are students from another city. They don't speak Japanese very well."
"They don't speak it at all!" Frizz proclaimed. Aya squeezed his hand, willing him to stay silent.
"English, then?" Udzir switched effortlessly.
Tally nodded. "Yes, English is better. Did you say where we're going?"
"You will see soon."
"We've been flying south for hours," Fausto said. "And it's pretty hot. We must be near the equator."
Udzir nodded, smiling. "And you are very good students, I see. Let me reward your cleverness: We will soon land on an island that the Rusties called Singapore."
Aya frowned, trying to remember her geography. The name wasn't ringing any bells, but there were hundreds of Rusty cities that had been lost. At least the change in subject had quieted Frizz's need for Radical Honesty.
The hovercar was descending now, the ride growing rougher as clouds darkened the windows.
The hold began to pitch from side to side, setting the cargo straps swinging. Aya felt her stomach lurch, and was suddenly glad she hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before.
Tally, Fausto, and Shay seemed unfazed by the turbulence. They shifted their weight like hoverboard riders, compensating for every movement of the car. It was as if they'd learned to read the storm's howls and anticipate the next assault of the wind.
Udzir, unperturbed in midair, looked down at the Cutters with renewed interest. "You've ridden in a tropical storm before?"
"We travel a lot," Tally said simply.
"I noticed your hoverboards were made to fly in the wild. Most unusual, especially for uglies."
"Really?" Shay said. "They're all the rage where we come from."
Frizz tensed up beside Aya, and she dug her fingernails into his hand.
"Which is where, exactly?" Udzir asked.
"We're from Diego," Shay said, and Aya felt Frizz relaxing a little at the sound of the truth.
"A city known for its forward-looking nature," Udzir said approvingly. "Perhaps you will appreciate our project."
"Which is what?" Tally asked.