Universal Dependencies - English - GUM

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The Cost to Be Wise

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Veronique stayed with me that night, lying next to me in my blankets and furs.

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She didn't sleep, I don't think.

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I was listening to her breath.

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I felt as if I should help her sleep.

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I lay there and tried to think if I should put my arm around her, but I didn't know.

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Maybe she didn't want to be touched.

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And she had been a stupid girl, anyway.

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She lay tense in the dark.

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'Are you going to be a teacher?' I asked.

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She laughed.

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'If I get out of here.'

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I waited for her to say more, but she didn't.

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'Get out of here' meant to make someone leave.

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Maybe she meant if she made herself.

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'You come here from Earth?' I asked.

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To get her to talk, although I was tired of lingua and I didn't really want to think about anything.

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'My family came here from Earth,' she said.

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'Why?'

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'My father, he's an anthropologist,' she said.

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'Do you know anthropologist?'

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'No,' I said.

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'He is a person who studies the way people live.

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And he is a teacher.'

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All the offworlders I had ever met were teachers.

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I wondered who did all the work on Earth.

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'Because Earth had lost touch with your world, the people here are very interesting to my father,' she said.

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Her voice was listless in the dark and she was even harder to understand when I couldn't see her properly.

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I didn't understand so I didn't say anything.

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I was sorry I'd started her talking.

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'History, do you know the word ' history '?' she asked.

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Of course I knew the word 'history.'

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'I study history in school,' I said.

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Anneal and Kumar taught it.

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'Do you know the history of this world?'

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It took my tired head a long time to sort that out.

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'Yes,' I said.

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'We are a colony.

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People from Earth come here to live.

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Then there is a big problem on Earth, and the people of Earth forget we are here.

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We forget we are from Earth.

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Then Earth finds us again.'

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'Some people have stories about coming from the Earth,' Veronique said.

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'My father is collecting those stories from different peoples.

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I'm a graduate student.'

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The clans didn't have any stories about coming from Earth.

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We said the first people came out of the sun.

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This somehow seemed embarrassing.

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I didn't understand what kind of student she was.

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'Are you here for stories?' I asked.

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'No,' she said.

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'Ian is old friends with your teacher, from back when they were both with the survey.

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We just came to visit.'

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I didn't understand what she'd said except that they were visiting.

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We were quiet after that.

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I pretended to sleep.

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Sometimes there was gunfire outside and we jumped, even Mam on the bed.

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Everyone but Bet.

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Once Bet was asleep it was impossible to wake her up.

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I fell asleep thinking about how I wished that the Scathalos outrunners were gone.

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I dreamed that I was at the offworlder's home, where it was summer but no one was taking care of the stabros, and they were all glad, and so I was a hero - and I was startled awake by gunfire.

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Just more drinking and shooting.

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I wished my da would come home.

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It didn't seem fair that we should lie here and be afraid while the men were getting drunk and singing.