But then she looked at that teacher, and saw the smile on the woman’s face, saw the excitement and attention on the children’s faces, saw their eyes light up and their heads turn to look at each other even when they hadn’t said a word that she could hear.

And she could imagine being there with them. And feeling entirely differently about it.

“How’s it working out?” Sam asked Aarthi.

Aarthi picked at the grass next to her. Sam wondered idly if she was getting grass stains on those fancy khaki pants.

“From a technical standpoint,” Aarthi said, “it’s working amazingly well. We’re concerned about safety, of course, but everything looks very good. And the impact is incredible. Groups of children with Nexus learn faster. They have higher retention and faster absorption. Dramatically so. They process problems together. They learn from each other instinctively, unconsciously, without even knowing it. They explain things to each other in ways that go beyond language. If the teacher has Nexus too, and truly understands the material, so much the better.”

Sam turned to look at her colleague, her friend. “But…”

Aarthi smiled. “Socially and politically, it’s more complex. All these young people – if we can boost how fast they learn, we know it’s good for them, it’s good for India. They’ll get better jobs. They’ll make more discoveries that benefit everyone. But not all are convinced.”

Sam raised an eyebrow.

Aarthi went on. “We thought, at first, that the brightest children would gain the most from Nexus.”

“Were you right?” Sam asked.

Aarthi shook her head. “No, actually. They do benefit of course. Quite a lot. But the largest benefit comes to the children who’ve had the least enrichment in life, who’ve come from the poorest families, especially if they can touch the minds of children who are gifted or who at least have had the benefit of a more intellectually stimulating childhood.”

Sam chuckled. “So you want to put rich kids and poor kids together.”

Aarthi smiled ruefully. “It’s even harder than you might imagine. The caste system is still alive and well. Upper caste parents don’t relish the idea that their children might ever link minds with the lower castes.” She sighed. “And lower caste families – who have the most to gain – are among the most superstitious and suspicious of this sort of technology.” Aarthi shook her head. “There’ve been backlashes.”

Sam shivered. She remembered Thai teens throwing bottles and stones at the house outside Mae Dong. “Sat pralat”, they’d yelled. Monster children. And then there was the horror that had befallen Shiva Prasad’s orphanage in Bihar, here in India.

Sam looked around, and now more of the layout here made sense. The reinforced fence. The security guards they’d passed, with their weapons, unobtrusive enough to not frighten children, but still there, and at the ready.