Chapter 17

I read 11 pages.

"You do that," Matt repeated, "and I'll tell the doctor how you treated El Patron's clone."
"Say what?" said Hugh, lifting his boot from Matt's chest.
"I'm El Patron's clone. I was visiting the water purification plant and got lost. Better yet, you can take me to the Big House and I'll send a message to him." (page 173)

Matt knows if he tells anyone he's El Patron's clone, he can get out of almost anything, since no one wants to upset El Patron. It's very smart for Matt to do this, and I bet it is helpful in situations like the one he was in during that paragraph."

Chapter 17 Summary: Matt continues trying to speak with Rosa, but she replied with the same thing every time, "Do you wish another horse, Master?" He goes to the oasis and begins reading one of the books Tam Lin had left him in the chest of supplies. While reading, he sees El Patron's name, and the book tells how he was a drug dealer and that drugs were illegal. Matt does not continue reading the book, because of the negative things it says about El Patron. As he goes back, he stops by the water purification plant. He can smell the dead fish and chemicals, and he sees the wastelands, where all of the chemicals and dead fish and such go. Matt notices that they lead to a bunch of buildings, and he wonders if that is where the eejits live. The smell gets to him, and just as he was about to pass out, two people yank him out of the yellow sludge. They think he's an eejit, and after he says he's not, they think he must be an illegal and begin to take him to the hospital to probably turn him into an eejit. Matt says if they do that, he'll just tell the doctor how they treated El Patron's clone. The two men, Hugh and Ralf, begin talking to Matt about where they come from. Matt realizes that they are murderers on the run, and that is why they are no longer where they come from anymore. Matt asks if Tam Lin had killed anyone, and they call him a "bloody terrorist." They tell him how Tam Lin placed a bomb outside the Prime Minister's house in London trying to kill him. "It's a shame a school bus pulled up at the wrong moment," said Hugh. "The blast killed twenty kiddies." (page 177)

I found this chapter quite interesting. I learned more about Tam Lin, and how he's not as innocent as I thought he may have been.