[scifan] plantation 02.5 - daphne Read online

  He turned to go but she managed to get his hand in hers. “We can work through this,” she said as

  she reached over and kissed him on the lips.

  “No, we can’t,” he said, gently pulling away.

  “Why?” she insisted.

  “Because you will get hurt.”

  “I’m already hurt, Damian. There, I said it. Are you happy now?”

  “I’m never happy, that’s the whole point.”

  “You’ll have to be a bit more specific than that.”

  “You’ve said you want the truth but I’m not sure you can handle it, Daphne. Because the truth is I love Freya.”

  She took a step back at his words, shaken and injured, unwilling to believe her ears. “You love

  her?” she said in a whisper. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  Damian stepped closer and took her face in his hands. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “I just do what I have to do. You don’t want to be with me. Not the way I am. Not the way things are right now.”

  He put his lips on her forehead. Daphne quivered at his kiss. She knew what it was. Without

  realizing it, he was sealing her fate.

  7

  They reached the vegetable garden through the tall oak trees that cast a continuous shadow over

  the land keeping the small plot well hidden in their depths. Daphne’s skin shivered under her shirt when Finn turned on the sprinklers that splashed cold drops of water all over their bodies and faces.

  They walked for an hour to get to this protected piece of land that provided food and nutrients to their team.

  “This is the first time we’ve come to the garden together, isn’t it?” Daphne said.

  “I think it’s the first time we’ve ever been anywhere together,” Finn replied picking a ripe

  purple tomato. “Just the two of us, I mean.”

  Daphne took a white and red tablecloth out of her backpack and spread it out on the grass. She

  watched as the cloth gently fell to the ground in ripples floating for a moment above the tall grass. Her eyes were accustomed to noticing details that were invisible to the rest of the world.

  “What’s that for?” Finn said pointing at the tablecloth.

  “Well, since we’re here, I figured we might as well have a picnic.”

  Finn raised his eyebrows. “A picnic?” he said. “I thought we were here to work.”

  “We’re here to talk actually,” she said casually pulling a bottle of water out of the backpack.

  Finn sat on the ground next to her. “You haven’t given up already, have you?” he said.

  “Not a chance. I have to see this to the end.”

  She looked out at the garden with the swaying stems and fragile leaves holding back some

  golden strands of her hair with one hand. If the world could always be peaceful like that then she wouldn’t have to be so hasty and stern. She could just live in the moment and leave the future alone.

  “I was fourteen when I first saw him,” she said. “At sixteen he was almost as big and stubborn

  as he is now. It was just Damian and me back then for a little while. With Cal and Hera. Right before we found Zoe.”

  “What ever happened to Hera?” Finn said.

  Daphne smiled. “Don’t try to change the subject. Hera vanished out of thin air, you know that.

  My point is I can’t help but care for him. From the first time I saw him, I wanted to do things for him.”

  “You don’t have to explain, Daphne,” Finn said biting on a piece of cucumber.

  “He says he loves Freya,” she said.

  Finn spat out the cucumber he was chewing on. “Who?” he said looking sideways at Daphne.

  She let out a hoarse laugh. “Damian. He now says he loves her.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. How could he love Freya? He’s nothing but a jerk to her. And she

  can’t stand him either.”

  “Yeah, well, when people protest too much…”

  “Are you making this up?”

  “Maybe it’s his defense, Finn. I don’t know. I’m just telling you what he said.”

  Finn remained silent for a long while. “That son of a bitch,” he said finally. “I’m going to break his teeth.”

  “Why? What is it to you?”

  Finn didn’t reply. There was either nothing he could think of to say or way too much.

  “It’s okay,” Daphne said. “I’m messing with you. I know what it is to you.”

  “No, you don’t, Daphne. It’s not what you think. Freya is vulnerable and insecure right now. She

  doesn’t need this.”

  “For once I agree. She’s insecure and therefore dangerous.”

  “Daphne…”

  “Yes, I know.”

  She felt something strange in her blood. A need to be loved and cared for maybe. Or it could just be that the wind was humming so close to her ear that it tingled her senses. She wanted to live.

  She leaned over and kissed Finn. It felt odd to kiss someone who wasn’t Damian but it also felt

  good. Finn felt good. He was open and clean like a morning breeze.

  “Why did you do that?” Finn said.

  She shrugged. “Maybe you and I should give it a try.”

  He took in her words for a few seconds. “Daphne, you’re the most beautiful girl I have seen,” he

  started but never finished his thought.

  “But you love Freya,” she cut him off. “Everybody loves Freya.”

  “I don’t know about all that,” Finn said. “Remember what you just said about Damian? You

  wanted to do things for him since you first saw him.”

  Daphne nodded.

  “From the moment I saw Freya,” he went on, “I just wanted to give her something. I don’t know,

  an apple, a shiny pebble, a chance for freedom.”

  “I guess it’s my turn to say that you don’t have to explain. Although for the life of me I don’t

  know what you see in that whiny brat.” She winked at Finn. “At least now I will always be the first girl you kissed.”

  Finn blushed but quickly came to his senses. A bit too quickly, she thought. “I guess we’ll

  always have that,” he said and walked back to the garden to collect the vegetables for the day.

  “Remember, Finn,” Daphne shouted at him. “Sometimes there’s no poison greater than a dream.”

  *

  DAPHNE SPARRED WITH NYA and Scout in a wet combat ring after an unexpected thunderstorm. She

  needed to burn off some steam and training by herself couldn’t achieve that anymore.

  Nya and Scout jumped high and tried to reach a rope hanging at ten feet off the ground when they

  collided in midair falling together to the ground. They took a look at each other trying not to laugh.

  “Get up, you fools,” Daphne yelled at them feeling impatient. “This isn’t a playground, you have

  to take your training seriously.”

  Nya grabbed Daphne by the arm. “There’s no need for you to be so bitchy all the time,” she said.

  “Remember what you said to Damian about snapping.”

  “Let go of me, you freak,” Daphne yelled. “Don’t you ever call me bitchy ever again!”

  “I’ll call you that if that’s what you are. Be something else and then I’ll call you that other

  thing,” Nya said.

  Daphne’s head started spinning. She didn’t know how to stop herself from overreacting. She

  pulled her arm violently from Nya’s clutch.

  Scout stepped between the two of them. “Stop it, Daphne,” she yelled. “You’re not our boss, you

  can’t yell at us like that.”

  Daphne followed Scout’s eyes to see Freya sitting a few feet away and watching them with an

  expression that betrayed boredom. When Freya started to get up, Daphne pounced and pushed her

 
back down. She stood over Freya angrily. When Freya tried to get up again, Daphne pushed her back down one more time.

  “What are you doing?” Freya said confused.

  The words escaped Daphne’s mouth before she had a chance to think. “I don’t want to hear your

  voice,” she said feeling hot tears forming in her eyes. What was she doing yelling at Freya, Nya and Scout? None of what was wrong in her life was their fault. “Forget it,” she said and stormed away.

  8

  People come together because they have a spirit and a soul and because their need to belong

  burns like a wild fire. They do not want to think about fear because fear kills innocence but when they are faced with pure terror, they turn to each other for support or they use that fear to achieve their goals.

  The combat ring was a microcosm where behaviors were tested again and again. The Saviors

  hovered around Theo like honey bees in a hive.

  Theo was explaining how Zoe and he had accidentally intercepted a message about an alien ship

  that would land in the district.

  “What good is that to us?” Freya asked.

  “We are pretty certain that the message never reached its destination,” Theo said. “The aliens

  don’t know about the landing and they won’t send the Sliman escort that the ship requested. We might be the only ones who know about this. And we are also able to respond to the message on behalf of the plantation.”

  “What do you mean by respond?” Biscuit asked.

  “We can send a message back to reassure the aliens on the ship that the Sliman will be waiting

  for them,” Zoe explained.

  “And you’re sure it won’t be traced back to us?” Damian said.

  “They won’t know the difference,” Theo said.

  “The aliens are very weak without their Sliman guards around,” Finn said. “Especially at dawn

  when they’re recovering their strength. Which is when we should attack.”

  “Attack?” Freya said in disbelief.

  “Nothing has been decided,” Damian said. “It’s all speculation. We can’t be a hundred percent

  certain they didn’t send a second message that you weren’t able to intercept, Theo, or that this whole thing isn’t a trap.”

  “A trap?” Daphne said unable to stay silent any longer. “They don’t know about us.”

  Damian eyed her curiously. “How do you know that, Daphne? How do you know that there isn’t

  somebody else out there that we don’t know about? What if they’re setting a trap for somebody else and we end up falling in it?”

  “I think we won’t have an opportunity like that for a very long time,” she insisted. “The ship

  will practically land in our backyard. It’s our one chance to drive some fear into their hearts, to let them know there are still free people in the world.”

  “That doesn’t make it any less risky,” Doc cut in.

  “Are we even ready yet?” Tilly asked.

  Daphne turned to glance at Finn hoping he would know where to go from there. “What do you

  think, Finn?” she said trying to make her voice sound distant and indifferent.

  It took Finn a couple seconds to respond. “I think we can’t keep hiding forever,” he said.

  “Maybe the time has come to make some sense out of our alliance, to put the Saviors to work.”

  She could have kissed him. Again. But Freya would probably kill her on the spot. It might have

  been worth it just to see Damian’s reaction.

  “We’re not ready,” Damian said.

  “We shouldn’t underestimate the element of surprise,” Finn insisted. “They will not expect a

  sudden attack even if they do suspect we exist.”

  “You do realize we’d have to abandon the camp for who knows how long,” Damian said. “If we

  survive intact, we will have to live on the run.”

  In the end Damian had no choice but to agree to put the issue to vote. It pained Daphne to

  contradict him on a crucial matter like the one presented in front of them but even in fear there are degrees. And that is where details mattered the most, because between degrees you could find a place for hope. Daphne needed hope more than ever.

  When the ballots were counted in favor of the attack, Damian adjusted his behavior almost

  immediately. “All right then,” he said without resentment. “We’ll do it. But we’ll have to come up with an airtight plan and a good escape route. We’ll have to work day and night to prepare. We have two and a half days to make things work. Theo, send out the message and put their minds at ease.”

  Daphne realized that Damian would not succumb that easily. He had endless amounts of

  resources at his disposal and he would draw from them till the very end. She would have to up her game if she were to bring him to the point where he would have no option but to seek her support

  again. Lord knew that Freya was not going to be there for him. He’d have no one to turn to but

  Daphne.

  She decided to stop thinking about Freya like that. In fact, it would be best if she stopped

  thinking about Freya altogether.

  *

  DAMIAN WATCHED FINN as he climbed up the steep walls of the Observatory using a rope and a

  hook. He reached the top in no time and then climbed down faster than if he had just jumped.

  Damian walked over to the spot where Finn had landed and stood in front of him with a bottle of

  water in his hand as an offering.

  “Thanks,” Finn said taking the water.

  Damian nodded and then blocked Finn’s way with his massive body.

  “What is it?” Finn said.

  “You somehow convinced yourself that hanging out with Daphne is a good idea,” Damian said.

  “That you could be her champion. I’d watch my back if I were you. She’ll eat you alive.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” Finn said wiping sweat off his face with a hand towel. “You know, it

  just hit me. You don’t know Daphne at all, do you, Damian? It’s kind of disturbing, actually, how little you know her.”

  Damian laughed. “Oh, and you do? Wise up, Finn. You could never handle a girl like Daphne.

  Whatever it is that she has on you, find a way to get out from under it. Stop enabling her. It can only lead to disaster.”

  “Daphne is smart, brave and generous,” Finn said. “If you just listened when she talked, you’d

  learn a lot.”

  “Right. It probably won’t matter anyway what you do or don’t do with her. Not since you two

  managed to get us into battle mode when we’re clearly not ready for it. Let’s hope it will be worth it when all is said and done.”

  Damian marched away not waiting for an answer. Finn patted his hair down and wondered if

  what he had allowed Daphne to get him into would truly be worth the trouble. That girl had a lot of issues.

  9

  Finn and Daphne watched the sunset in silence wrapped in blankets on the hill above the

  facilities.

  “I need you to do one more thing for me,” Daphne said and reached under the blankets to take

  Finn’s hand.

  “I won’t kiss you again,” Finn said.

  “Be serious,” she scolded him pinching his hand.

  “I’m sorry,” he said pulling his hand from hers to rub the spot that had been pinched. “What do

  you need?”

  “Do you remember when I told you that I would die soon?”

  “You won’t die, Daphne,” he said. “I won’t let it happen.”

  “I had a vision,” she said. “It came to me as a premonition and just in case it’s true, I want you to do something for me.”

  She reached inside the pocket of her jacket and brought out a small box.

  “Keep this safe,” she said
. “And give it to Damian when…” She stopped to correct herself for

  his sake. “If I die.”

  Finn took the box in his hands. It was heavy for its size and had been meticulously sealed with a pulse beam.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I can’t tell you that,” she said. “But you’ll have to promise you’ll make sure it gets to Damian after I’m gone.”

  “You think you’ll die tomorrow in battle, don’t you?” he said studying the box.

  “It’s a possibility, Finn. For all of us if you think about it.”

  Finn smiled. “Were we stupid to force the issue? I mean about ambushing the ship.”

  “Finn, no, I feel it in my gut that this is something we have to do vision or not.”

  “It’s not your fault that Damian can’t see how wonderful you are,” he said putting his hand under the blanket again to squeeze hers gently.

  “There was a time I thought he loved me,” she said dreamily. “He never said it but I thought it

  was meant to be, you know? I mean, what alternative was there? We were as close as two people can be in this strange life we’re living. But I was wrong. He never loved me and he never will.”

  Finn felt her ache and frustration a little more sharply than she had intended. “That vision of

  yours,” he said, “did it include a battle?”

  “Yes, it did.”

  “Just because you dreamed it, doesn’t mean it will happen, Daphne.”

  “It doesn’t mean it won’t happen either. My visions always have some truth to them.”

  “Maybe it’s time you started challenging them. Or maybe you should concentrate on how to

  prevent them.”

  “Oh, Finn,” she said, “you’re sweet but also naïve. You can’t prevent death. It’s the one thing

  we have no control over.”

  He pulled her close and held her tight. “I will keep an eye on you nevertheless.”

  “Of course you will.”

  The stars were bright like small diamonds in the clear sky.

  “They look so peaceful,” Finn said, “yet, there must be thousands of civilizations around them.

  At least half of them violent and about one third pure evil.”

  “Gee, and I thought Earth was bad.”

  “Nah, before the alien invasion and the Sliman armies and the plantations and the mutations and

  the experiments and the receptors it was fairly safe out here.”