Mildred and Dorothy were together in Mildred's room, discussing the events of the day.

"So, you're going to the spaceship?!" said Mildred.  She was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, her arms behind her propping her up in a position that was both alert and relaxed (which was Mildred's typical pose, thought Dorothy; appearing to spend no effort at all, but paying close attention, noticing everything).

"Yup!" said Dorothy, aware that she was boasting and maybe should turn it down a bit to avoid making her friend envious.  But then, she also gradually became aware that Mildred didn't seem to be envious.

"And your mom is ok with this?" asked Mildred, frowning a bit.

"Yeah!  Actually, Helene wanted my parents to go, too, but Mom needs to stay close to Sophia until her baby gets off kangaroo care, and Dad doesn't want to leave Mom, so they're both staying here.  But I get to go."

"So why are you going?"

"Why not?!  It'll be exciting!  Plus, I get to stay with my grandparents.  Sarah is especially fun, although maybe a little crazy sometimes.  But that's mostly only when Mom's around, anyway.  Jacob is ok, too, although he's pretty quiet most of the time.  Plus, they're going to show me the rats."

Mildred paused, her skeptical response arrested for the moment.  The Martian colony, aside from a variety of microbes, had three animal species: humans, bees, and chickens.  The chicks were cute, the adult chickens were funny to watch, and the bees were fascinating in their own way.  But, none of them were mammals, and there was a certain fascination in the idea of rats.  Plus, the adolescents had all heard whispered tales of the first rat experiment on Mars, and that added to the air of mystery around them.

As Mildred was considering, her younger brother Clarence walked in.

"So, you're the new robot tech?" he asked, looking at Dorothy.  Mildred looked at him in confusion, then back to Dorothy, who rolled her eyes.

"Supposedly.  I'm the oldest minor, so Helene thought it made sense for me to learn how to work on the new robots.  Like I have any idea how that stuff works.  Stanley would probably be a lot more interested, or maybe you Clarence."

"Sure I would.  Can we trade?"

"Nope!  I wanna see the spaceship, and the rats.  Plus, Jacob is the one who's going to teach me about the robots, and he seems nice enough.  I'm sure you'll get your chance at them when we bring them into the Colony."

"Why do they need a minor to learn about the robots?" asked Mildred.  Her skepticism, which had faded a bit when considering the rats, had returned in full force.  "There's plenty of adults."

"Not sure, but maybe because of what happened with the last generation of adults?  Maybe they want to make sure some of the older kids know how to run things.  Or they think the adults won't like the robots because they're new, and old people don't like new stuff.  Anyway, if I have to learn about working on robots to get to see the ship and the rats, that's a price I'll pay."

"I hope you don't have to pay any other price," said Mildred, frowning.

Dorothy, who had been staring off into the distance at her dreamy future full of pet rats and exotic spaceships, looked back at Mildred, and blinked in confusion.

"You know what Elijah said you were?" asked Clarence.

"No, what?" asked Dorothy, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"A hostage."