37. Elderberry Pie

The stew Ma had prepared was easily the best thing Five had ever eaten. She tried to go slow, to savor it, but it was hard.

"Your timing couldn't be better." Ma looked lovingly at One as he stared into his bowl. "I just baked a fresh elderberry pie."

Probably feeling Ma's eyes on him, One looked up. "Oh." He glanced toward Five. "Okay."

Not wanting Ma to be disappointed by One's lack of memory, Five added, "It's still your favorite, right Titch?"

One blinked, as he always seemed to do when he was called Titch. "Of course. My favorite."

38. Home Sweet Home

"Your room is just as you left it," Ma had assured One before going to bed.

He paused at the top of the stairs, looking down the hallway at four doors. Five came up the stairs behind him, grabbing his hand as she passed him.

She stopped in front of the second door on the right. "This is your room. I'll take the guest room across the hall."

I'm a stranger here, and she's perfectly at home. One shook his head as he looked around the room full of unfamiliar belongings.

The universe certainly had a strange sense of humor.

39. Ma

After a few days, things had started to feel more comfortable. One couldn't say he remembered Ma, but she was very nice, exactly the kind of mother anyone would want. She prepared fantastic meals three times a day while One and Five completed odd jobs around the farm.

Ma had immediately taken to Five, or Emily, as she called her. "I always wanted a granddaughter," Ma would tell her. "But Titch," she looked meaningfully at One, "Was too busy with his career to give me one."

Five would grin and reply, "I never knew how much I wanted a grandmother."

40. Shopping

One nodded a greeting to the shopkeeper, and proceeded to collect a few items. Last night a goat had given birth and Five chose to stay with the new mom and baby instead of joining One on his trip into town.

One's eyes drifted to the screen behind the counter, the one that was always tuned to GNN, as the shopkeeper rang up his items. The screen flashed an image of Hyperion-8. One froze, his hand halfway to his pocket. He held his breath and crossed his fingers.

The screen displayed several mugshots. Among them were Two, Three, and Four.

41. News

Later, One would vaguely recall asking the shopkeeper to turn up the sound. But he didn't stay long enough to hear more than a few words. Not waiting for the shopkeeper to make change, he dropped a handful of bars on the counter, gathered his items, and sprinted for home.

"Em!" he cried, dropping the shopping bags on the front porch. "Em, where are you?"

Five, baby goat still in her arms, and bleating mama goat chasing behind her, ran up to One. "What's wrong?"

"They did it," he panted. "They actually escaped. The crew of the Raza is free."

42. Return

Mozart—that was what she named the baby goat, because he liked it when she played old classics on the ancient radio she had pieced together—stood on Five's back as she lie prone in the pasture, fiddling with the wires of a sensor that was on the fritz.

"So…" she looked up at One, who was stacking hay in the nearby shed. "When are we going back?"

"Back?" One wiped sweat from his forehead. "You mean to the Raza? We don't even know where they are."

"But we are going back, right? Once we figure out where they are?"

43. Farm Life

The truth was, farm life wasn't doing much for One. He was happy to be able to help Ma, but she'd been getting by on her own for a long time and didn't really need their help. She was perfectly capable of taking care of the daily chores herself. She usually called in help from town during the harvest, and she'd made clear that she would continue to do so. She claimed it was because her seasonal helpers counted on the income she provided them, but One wondered if she wasn't skeptical of his ability to get the job done.