Excuse

"I am not accepting this note; you are not excused from class," Mrs. Nash said (her tone flat). "But ...," Henry started, only to be interrupted immediately. "We talked about this last time, and I am not accepting any note signed by "Your Alien Masters"," she added (and waved him off before she blurted out how disappointed she was). At home, her spouse would find this funny, but it was not funny now; it was annoying. It was also annoying to the Zylls listening from the ship through Henry's implant. They had been unimpressed by the rate at which learning had progressed and had seen no growth in other, linked markers (such as communication skills, mood regulation, and basic hygiene). It was not the first time the Zylls had thought to scrap the project and fire up the blasters.