Page 147 of Nine-Tenths

"Colin," Hadi says, and it's not a scold so much as a warning.

"Hi," I say back, feeling small and shamed. "I'm an asshole and I'm sorry?"

"Is that a question?" Hadi hands me a mug and chivvies me into a chair.

"No. I'm really sorry."

"Emotions were high," Pedra says. "No one was thinking clearly."

"And we are now?" I take a gulp of what turns out to be more booze than bean juice. "Whoa, that burns."

"Yes," Pedra says darkly. She pulls a folder out of the bag at her feet, and hands it over.

I flip it open, skimming the text.Evolutionary Biology and Ensured Mutual Survival,jumps out at me.Still just a theory pending a wide-scale investigation into the macronutrient breakdown of the enzymes in dragonsfire… what saliva does to human blood cells… to cancerous cells… Like an mRNA vaccine, dragonsfire provides human bodies with proteins to block genetic coding for common illnesses… what if all of their bodily fluids… blood, saliva, semen—

I've swallowed.That's what I think first.I've sucked Dav off, and now I’m not allergic to chocolate. Jeez. This is a scientific study on the medicinal benefits of dragon-fucking.

"Have you read this?" I ask.

Hadi nods. Onatah holds out her hand. I don't know how legible the diagrams will be to her, don't know what kind of science education she has, but the way her eyebrows are slowly pulling down as she flips through, I'd bet the answer is 'pretty damn legible.'

Pedra is clearly proud of it. I don't have the heart to tell her that the dragons already know all this… and don't care.

"What do you plan to do with this?" I ask, trying to figure out how best to rain on her parade.

"You know about Onatah's controlled urbanization and food forests?" Pedra asks.

"No."

"Cultivated wilderness," Onatah explains. "Planting food-bearing plants that work harmoniously with wooded areas, instead of strip-clearing for farming, and ruining the topsoil."

"It's aspirational," Pedra goes on breathlessly, sounding like the biggest fangirl I've ever met, and Onatah shoots her a flattered look. "It's the way North America was before the European dragons started spreading their Empires, and hoarding as many people as they could."

"People they've never even met. People they've never even touched," Onatah growls.

The way she says that gives me a shiver and I set down my mug to wrap my arms around my stomach. My wrist throbs.

"I understand that the dragon-controlled territories to the West, in the Mexican Empire, are even more vibrant and natural. The trade route systems that colonization disrupted alone would—Let me put it this way," Pedra interrupts herself. "What's the average lifespan of a human in Canada?"

I shrug. "Eighty-something?"

"Eighty-three," Pedra plows ahead. "But the data’s skewed. It's eighty in British territories, and ninety-seven in Indigenousones. And in AotearoaandNippon, it's around a hundred and twenty! I was right about the food allergies, and the beans. I put it out there—"

"And got Dav arrested because of it," I hiss.And whipped, I think, but don't add. I know better than to share that. I have no illusions about how long Lt. Gov. Sadist's arms are.

Pedra stutters to a stop. "I am sorry for that. It wasn't my intention. But there are people out there reading it, secretly, in the dark corners of the internet. It's growing. There's more than they're telling all of us."

I exchange a guilty glance with Onatah. Hadi, of course, catches it immediately.

Don't tell anyone,Simcoe had commanded us. Me.

But he hadn't explicitly told us toshut downanyone else, either. Or that I had to deny anything when directly confronted.

Malicious compliance it is, then.

"You already knew this," Hadi says.

"I just learned it like, fuck, twenty-four hours ago but… yeah."