In this chapter, we learn more about Alek's behavior. He's been moping around the house, swearing in class, and generally acting like a total bratty teenager. Alek is upset that his parents are going to dinner with him, but he's also upset that he hasn't been able to learn anything from his parents. He wants to learn something from Alek, so he tells him to stop calling him. Alek says he'll teach him some more tricks and mnemonics, but first, he wants to get to work. He tells us that he expected a culture shock when he first arrived at earthlight, but that's because people are always "knocked off" by a "security alert" . The people of earthlight have been fighting for the colony all along, and they're worried that it's going to be closed down. What do you want Alek to tell them? The plain truth is that if people are worried about the colony being shut down, they probably are right.