An innocent robotics researcher's lab has been demolished, the roboticist is dead, the lab assistants range from dead to traumatized, and a pocket everything on one of the rioters shows a recent text exchange - innocent, but anything could be code.
The greys arrest the other party to the conversation.
Witwa pulls up in front of a four story building with a yard full of children, oddly unclumped in age. She gestures at it.
They obediently hop out of the cart. "Thank you," he says, uncomfortably aware that his father would have become fluent over the course of the cart ride.
Witwa says something in her language and waves and drives off.
"Well," says Shasali. "I suppose they probably have diapers and baby food here."
"I wonder if kids in daycare in equatorial places have different developmental progress, what with all the -" gesture at the unclumped kids playing. "I doubt they give out diapers for free - and without checking if you have a credit -"
"Witwa dropped us off here..." Shasali says uncertainly.
Inside there are more babies! None of them are younger than Kalatha but they're a wide range of older. There are more kids. There are some adults, looking after everybody. As soon as an adult spots them he holds his arms out for the baby. Shasali flinches.
They're definitely not using hair color to communicate caste but he can't think what they're using instead. They're aliens; it could literally be something he can't see.
He tries pantomiming that Kalatha needs food.
The person seems to expect Shasali to hand over the baby, but when she doesn't, he shrugs and goes away and comes back with a bottle of milk and a cloth diaper.
"You don't have to be holding a baby to vaccinate it. It's easier if you're not."
"Maybe he figured we don't know how to put a diaper on." Shasali has tied the diaper onto the baby and is feeding her; Kalatha sucks industriously.
"Not our age, surely, but... well, it's a weird low tech diaper and we're obviously foreign..."
"No?"
"He's watched our cousins but not without the nanny around. Maybe I'm underestimating him - I don't know if I will get the chance to ask -"
Nod. "I'm sorry."
Shrug. "If we do get back Isel will tell me this was - the universe expressing that I wasn't being creative enough at finding a way to get you out."
The guy is holding out his arms for the baby again and Shasali still won't hand her over. The guy is confused. He shrugs and gets what do appear to be primitive vaccinations and administers them while Kalatha remains in Shasali's arms working on her bottle.
He can get those!
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