[scifan] plantation 04 - beyond the river of time Read online

  In the cafeteria, I run into Commander Eldritch who is not on his wheelchair. Instead, he uses a

  walking stick to support himself. His body is straight and he seems to be in no pain. I have employed my white energy to help his arthritic bones heal but results have been less than impressive so far.

  My white light works well in acute trauma situations but I still haven’t learned how to channel it

  in order to achieve healing of chronic conditions. The causes are complex and so are the restoring

  mechanisms. There has been some progress noted with Eldritch though and the proof is standing right

  before me.

  “Ah, Freya,” he says, “just the person I needed to see.”

  “Commander, it’s nice to see you on your feet.”

  “I have you to thank for that,” he says with a warm smile on his lips. “Come, have a cup of

  coffee with me.”

  We pick a small table to sit with our coffee mugs. There’s only one more customer in the

  cafeteria, a middle-aged woman with an open book next to a cup of tea. She nods with a smile as we

  sit down and then returns to her book. It’s rather late for breakfast and quite early for lunch so most people are busy.

  “Well, that’s something I don’t get to do often,” I say. “Having coffee with the commander

  himself. Have you ever been down here before?”

  “It’s been a while since I was able to walk down the hallways of good, old Exodus,” he says.

  A thought enters my mind. “Did you know I was going to be here?” I say. “I told Rainer that I

  needed a coffee. He was the officer on duty when Ella, Finn and I arrived from Spring Town earlier

  this morning.”

  “Caught red-handed,” the commander says. “I was hoping to talk to you in an informal capacity.”

  “Okay,” I say. “I think this qualifies.”

  The commander puts his coffee down. “Lainey is rather upset.”

  “That was not my intention. I have to trust my instincts and do what’s best for the greater good.”

  “She contends that we’ve allowed you a little more control than is warranted,” he says.

  “She has made no secret of that,” I remind him. “What’s important is what you think.”

  “I am acutely aware of our need for you and the fact that you are the key to all that we hope to

  accomplish. Perhaps, Lainey resents our dependence on you.” He sips from his cup and swallows.

  “Considering that you could blow us up with one small wave of your receptor, I think you’ve shown

  remarkable restraint. That’s good enough for me.”

  “I can’t produce nuclear power, Commander,” I say.

  “And you know that how?”

  “Can we be serious for a moment?” I say.

  Commander Eldritch nods. I like the fact that our mental wavelengths are quite in tune and we

  get to the point fast when we talk.

  “Lainey was out of line,” I go on. “So was Ella. They deliberately tried to get Finn off the

  station without me knowing. That’s a fact. For what reason, I don’t know. It might have been as trivial as trying to break my bond with Finn.”

  Commander Eldritch raises his eyebrows. “I honestly don’t understand young people anymore,”

  he says.

  “Or perhaps something more sinister.”

  “Oh, do tell,” he winks unconcerned.

  “Like they’re trying to push my buttons. Lainey doesn’t like me and I feel rather awkward saying

  that to you because I know that you do like her.”

  “Oh, no, no, I don’t like her. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” he says. “I love Lainey but I

  don’t like her one bit. She’s a pain in the… well, you know what.”

  I am stunned and not sure if that was a joke or a confession. “Did you just admit that you are in

  love with Lainey?”

  “In love,” he says slowly and then pauses as if pondering on some new idea. “I’m not sure I

  remember what that means. Maybe we were in love at some point but now we’re the only family we

  each have. Do you know what that means, Freya? To have a partner, someone who’s there when you

  get sick or overwhelmed or depressed?”

  I nod. “I think so.”

  “No, you don’t. Not really,” he says as if he didn’t hear my words. “You see, Freya, when

  you’re young, you’re arrogant and arrogance becomes your armor. It protects you from noticing your

  own flaws, your misgivings, your fears. And then you grow older and that arrogance starts to wear off until one day it’s all but gone. That is when you see yourself for the first time. You see who you really are and it’s usually less than you imagined. The question becomes, who do you want to see each

  morning of your remaining life? And who will want to see you? Who is capable of seeing you.”

  “Commander, I appreciate you opening up to me, but it’s none of my business what you do in

  your private life. I have no opinion whatsoever when it comes to Lainey and you. In fact, I should

  probably stop talking now before I put my foot in my mouth. It’s one of my specialties.”

  “My happiness no longer depends on private matters, Freya,” he says. “There is only one thing

  that gives me a moment of joy, the prospect of a victory.”

  “You think it could really happen? We could defeat them?”

  “Of course I do. We have the upper hand and we have time. We’re not the dying species. We

  have a single objective. And we have you.”

  “The cost of this victory concerns me,” I say.

  “We must pay whatever price,” he says. “I will ask Lainey to back off. Is there anything else that

  you need?”

  No time like the present, I think, as I see the opportunity to take him into my confidence

  regarding the shields. I realize that as it is, we have no leads to speak of and the only way to go is to trust Eldritch. “I need you to initiate an investigation for me,” I say. “Theo has reason to believe there has been deliberate interference with the shield over Spring Town. I’ll have him give you all the

  details but I need you to promise it will not go any further.”

  “Because you think it could be one of us.”

  “It could be anyone.”

  “How long has this been going on?” he says.

  “A few days. That’s the reason I went to Spring Town,” I say.

  “You have my word that I’ll keep things under the radar. Pardon the pun. But in the future you

  must inform me immediately of such things,” he says. “Can you imagine the consequences if you made

  the wrong call?”

  “There will be no more secrets between us, Commander. I need to respect our allegiance in all

  things.”

  “Respect? No. You need to believe in it,” he says. “Now, I need to return to my office. Have

  Theo come see me.”

  I help him get up and thank him for his support. Finally, I can make some time for Tobi and Pip

  before I return to work.

  *

  IN THE AFTERNOON I FIND Zoe in her lab with Joshua by her side. The two of them are so

  absorbed in the project they’re working on that I have to knock twice before they become aware of

  my presence.

  “Just look at this,” Joshua says. “Zoe managed to turn the images for the new emergency manual

  into 3D holograms.” He pauses for effect. “It took her minutes. Literally.”

  “I’m not surprised,” I say. “There’s nothing Zoe can’t do once she sets her mind to it.”

  “It would have taken my technicians days, maybe even weeks to work through every image,”

  Joshua says. He turns to
Zoe. “I’m officially impressed, my lady. It’s beyond me how you learned to

  do this so fast.”

  Zoe blushes. “I used a combination of two techniques,” she says. “To be honest, I had no idea if

  it was going to work at all.”

  “Well, it did,” I say. “And you don’t have to be so modest about it. You rock.”

  “I’m just glad it worked,” Zoe says. She turns her monitor around so that I can see one of the

  holograms. It’s a flight of stairs leading to a deck. Then the hologram spins and the deck is filled with toxic gases. Masks fall down from the ceiling and a second later the staircase is pulled to the side to reveal a door leading to a shelter.

  “Wow, I’m officially impressed, too,” I say winking at Joshua.

  “I told you,” he says.

  “Can you give Zoe and me a moment?”

  “I guess I cannot ask why, right?” he says.

  “You can ask,” I say as I point at the door.

  “Right, got it,” he says. He squeezes Zoe’s hand before he leaves.

  “Do I sense an intimacy between the two of you?” I ask Zoe as soon as Joshua is out of the lab.

  “A girl can dream,” she says.

  “Have you been out on a date yet?”

  Zoe shuts down her monitors and retrieves her touchpad from her pocket. “A couple times,

  actually,” she says smiling. “And he sent me this message last night.”

  I read the words on the screen: Meet me at the observatory tomorrow at midnight. There will

  be a meteor shower, I hear.

  “So that’s another date then,” I say. “Tonight.”

  “I’ll meet him at the observatory. That’s all I know.”

  “Oh, c’mon, it’s me you’re talking too,” I say. “And why didn’t you ask him if you’re not sure?

  He was just standing here.”

  “No, I’m not going to ask,” Zoe says. “I need magic, not a bunch of words.”

  I do my best not to laugh. It’s sweet that she’s so invested in the prospect of a relationship with

  Joshua. It’s also obvious that it’s making her vulnerable and that’s something I have not seen in her before.

  “You know what you’re doing,” I say. “But if he ever hurts you in any way, he’ll have to answer

  to me.”

  “Relax, Freya. He hasn’t done anything to deserve your fury,” she says. “Why are you here

  anyway? I’m sure you didn’t come to the lab to talk about Joshua’s intentions.”

  “No,” I say. “I came here so you can tell me not to vaporize Ella.”

  “Don’t vaporize Ella,” Zoe says.

  I start messing with some white clay I find in a box.

  “Put that down,” Zoe says. “Is it something to do with Finn?”

  “No, you see that would make sense. I think there’s something else going on with Ella.

  Something that goes deeper than her jealousy of me.”

  “Or maybe you mean your jealousy of her?” she says. “You know, Joshua mentioned something

  about Ella in passing, something about her making a serious judgment error. I could ask him for

  details tonight if you want.”

  I shake my head. “Tonight should be about the two of you. I will ask him myself if you don’t

  mind.”

  “I know that look, Freya,” she says. “You’ve threatened him before. Please don’t do it again.

  He’s quite intimidated by you as it is.”

  “He is? Well, that’s good news,” I say. “But what do you mean I’ve threatened him? I don’t

  threaten anyone. I might joke about it but that’s all.”

  She shakes her head. “You don’t even know how scary you can be.”

  *

  I RETURN TO MY ROOM to find Kroll guarding the door with a pulse gun in his hand. He

  greets me with a nod and moves aside so I can step in.

  “Isn’t the gun a bit much?” I say.

  “What do you mean?” he says staring down at the weapon.

  “I mean you yourself are scarier than any gun.”

  “Trust me, you want me to use a gun, not my hands,” he says with a matter-of-fact tone. “I don’t

  want to make a mess on this nice ship.”

  “I suppose I can’t argue with that,” I say as I open the door.

  I’m immediately happy to see Finn standing in the middle of the room holding Tobi. “Mandy had

  to go to class,” he says.

  “I’m late again, aren’t I?” I say. “Has Tobi been a good boy for you?”

  “Pretty good for a babbling baby who never wants to lie down ever.”

  I take Tobi and kiss him on the forehead. “He is not the only boy in this room who can never stay

  put.”

  “I’m not yours to put anywhere,” Finn says.

  “How are things with Ella?” I say as I put Tobi down in his playpen.

  “Tense at best. She won’t talk to me. She thinks I overreacted. She called me your watchdog.”

  “The silent treatment, huh? Don’t worry, it will pass. She’s crazy about you.”

  “I’m not here to talk any more about Ella,” he snaps.

  “I’m all ears,” I say rather irritated at his tone.

  “What’s really going on?” he says glaring into my eyes.

  There’s no getting out of this one. “I was planning on telling you anyway,” I say. “As a matter of

  fact, I was looking for you to tell you when I found out you had left the station.”

  “I had no idea you weren’t informed,” he says.

  “It doesn’t matter now. Look here.”

  I take out my touchpad and bring up the screenshots of the shield graphs and the interference

  patterns that Theo sent me. Finn studies the images without saying anything but from the look on his

  face I know that he sees the problem clearly.

  “I did the math with Theo’s help,” I say. “It all started when Ella and you arrived at Spring

  Town. Then I found out from Malzod that Zolkon disappeared at just about the same time. I don’t

  know what it all means but somehow it doesn’t feel like it could all be coincidence.”

  Finn lifts his face from the touchpad to look at me. “No, it doesn’t,” he says. “What did you

  learn about Zolkon?”

  “There’s not much to tell. You know that I let him go and he chose to move in with the Dark

  Legion. When Malzod visited the camp, he found out that Zolkon wasn’t there anymore. Nobody saw

  him leave. I doubt anybody noticed. They never liked him. He didn’t take anything with him. There’s

  been no sign of him since. That’s all I know.”

  Finn steps closer. He takes my hand in his and lowers his eyes. “I didn’t notice anything odd

  while in Spring Town,” he says. “You know I’d tell you if I did. Ella was with me practically the

  entire time. You have to believe me.”

  “Yes, I do,” I say. “I don’t think your sweet Ella’s a spy or anything.”

  “Who else knows about this?” he says.

  “Besides Theo and the two of us I’ve only told Torik and Eldritch.”

  “So now you trust Torik and Eldritch,” he says as if the information had come as a revelation.

  “Of course. Finn, I’m just trying to be cautious. I didn’t start to suspect everyone I know all of a

  sudden. To be honest, at first I thought that if it was Lainey and Ella doing this, they were just doing it to get on my nerves. But now I don’t believe that’s a possibility.”

  “And there’s the Zolkon development.”

  “And I don’t know what to make of that either.”

  “What’s the plan?”

  “Be vigilant. Wait for Eldritch’s investigation to arrive to some conclusion. Torik will up


  security at Spring Town.”

  Finn rubs his forehead, then looks at Tobi. “War is closer than we think,” he says. “We can

  never forget that. The aliens will not rest until they have you or until they destroy us all.”

  “Finn! You’re supposed to be the optimist in this relationship. Your job is to cheer me up every

  time I get down, remember?”

  “Ha, those days are behind us, Tick. You are the one leading us now.”

  I can’t help but notice that we’re not syncing lately. I want to ask if he’s hiding something but the words won’t come out. I have to trust him. He’s always been right in the past, but then it’s too late to ask anyway.

  Pip shows up with Rabbit. They are carrying textbooks and a big atlas which means they’ve

  been studying at the library.

  “Oops, sorry,” Pip says. “Didn’t realize you’d both be here.”

  “That’s okay,” I say. “We have no secrets among us.”

  Finn elbows me as a not-so-subtle reminder that I’ve been lying through my teeth to everyone. I

  don’t know why but I have to stifle laughter. My nose makes an odd sound when I do and Finn

  suddenly laughs out loud.

  “Well, that’s interesting,” Rabbit says looking more and more astounded as I join Finn in

  laughing.

  “I have a feeling we did interrupt something after all,” Pip says.

  “No, actually you’ve come at the right time,” I say wiping tears of laughter off my eyes. “I have

  things to do and I need you to stay with Tobi.”

  “Sure, no problem,” Rabbit says. “I’ve missed the little guy. And we have the party to…”

  Pip covers his mouth with her hand. Too late.

  “What party?” I ask Rabbit.

  “Nothing,” Pip says answering for him.

  “Ah, do you see what’s going on here, Freya?” Finn says. “We don’t keep secrets from them but

  they’re sure keeping secrets from us.”

  We start laughing again. It cannot be helped. Pip laughs too. It’s like a disease that’s growing

  quietly inside until one day it bursts out. Rabbit is still clueless as he watches the rest of us laugh. I know that at least the three with me in this room will always have my back.

  5

  Zoe was right. The world is filled with magical moments if you’re willing to look for them.