"And that's the only source?"
"Well, I don't know. Kidnappings? I don't think that could be much of a factor, there aren't that many babies leaking through the security systems in the hospitals. People selling babies? It's been heard of, yes. Poor refugees arrive with eight children, and then a few years later they have only six, and they cry about the ones who died but who can prove anything? But nothing you can trace."
"The reason I'm asking," said Sister Carlotta, "is that this child is unusual. Extremely unusual."
"Three arms?" asked the inspector.
"Brilliant. Precocious. He escaped from this place before he was a year old. Before he could walk."
The inspector thought about that for a few moments. "He crawled away?"
"He hid in a toilet tank."
"He got the lid up before he was a year old?"
"He said it was hard to lift."
"No, it was probably cheap plastic, not porcelain. You know how these institutional plumbing fixtures are."
"You can see, though, why I want to know about the child's parentage. Some miraculous combination of parents."
The inspector shrugged. "Some children are born smart."
"But there is a hereditary component in this, inspector. A child like this must have . . . remarkable parents. Parents likely to be prominent because of the brilliance of their own minds."
"Maybe. Maybe not," said the inspector. "I mean, some of these refugees, they might be brilliant, but they're caught up in desperate times. To save the other children, maybe they sell a baby. That's even a smart thing to do. It doesn't rule out refugees as the parents of this brilliant boy you have."
"I suppose that's possible," said Sister Carlotta.
"It's the most information you'll ever have. Because this Pablo de Noches, he knows nothing. He barely could tell me the name of the town he came from in Spain."
"He was drunk when he was questioned," said Sister Carlotta.
"We'll question him again when he's sober," said the inspector. "We'll let you know if we learn anything more. In the meantime, though, you'll have to make do with what I've already told you, because there isn't anything more."
"I know all I need to know for now," said Sister Carlotta. "Enough to know that this child truly is a miracle, raised up by God for some great purpose."
"I'm not Catholic," said the inspector.
"God loves you all the same," said Sister Carlotta cheerfully.
Part Two
LAUNCHY
5
READY OR NOT
"Why are you giving me a five-year-old street urchin to tend?"
"You've seen the scores."
"Am I supposed to take those seriously?"
"Since the whole Battle School program is based on the reliability of our juvenile testing program, yes, I think you should take his scores seriously. I did a little research. No child has ever done better. Not even your star pupil."
"It's not the validity of the tests that I doubt. It's the tester."