They’d turned it into a game. Some of them were good at impersonations. Chris was particularly good at doing their English teacher: the long sentences, the use of gerunds, the rising intonation. Sam had the PE teacher’s gruff, short, sharp language down pat. They gathered round at lunch break to see if they could get past the Agegate. The teachers knew about the game. They didn’t mind. They’d found the children were more articulate, their vocabulary had increased, they now knew how a gerund worked. The school wouldn’t face sanctions. The Agegate had access to all the children’s other data.