Authors: Aubrie Dionne
Chapter Eleven
Masks
Mom exiled me to one of the outer greenhouses beside the
New Dawn
. None of the samples from our mission came back positive, not even mine, so all we had to show for our efforts was my sprained ankle. Failure overwhelmed me until I felt as though I sat at the bottom of a giant recycling chute with no way to ever climb out.
As I pruned gi-normous tomato plants reaching far above my head, I watched through the smoky glass of the greenhouse as workers constructed a central town square. Landrovers, cranes, and work crews trampled over what had once been quiet, untamed jungle. Judging from the size of the foundation of the latest building, it would be a skyscraper resembling the ones in the cities back on Old Earth. A part of me grew excited at the prospect of having anything resembling something from Old Earth, but another part of me knew we’d stolen this planet.
The outer portal opened with a whiff of humid air and Mom barged in. I straightened as much as I could on my shoulder crutch and pretended to be working hard. The irrigation ditches needed to be dug, and I still hadn’t watered the plants.
She had to pull down her filter mask to speak clearly. After Ray’s sickness, we were all supposed to wear them outside the
New Dawn
. “Wait until you see what I’ve found!”
At least she was in a good mood.
I watched openmouthed as men dragged in a large outcropping of deep violet crystal shards on a dolly, wheels screeching under the weight. The sight of the crystals made me uneasy and I shrank back. Every time I stood around them, I saw those strange aliens.
“Why do you have to bring it in here?” Would they attack us for taking so much of it? I certainly hoped not, considering no one except for me believed in their existence, and I’d be the one to work near the stolen crystal,
alone
,
every day
.
“It will be easier to grind the crystal here, where we can instantly add it to the plant soil.” Mom surveyed the team. “Put it over there, by the cucumbers.”
“Yes, ma’am,” a bass voice answered her.
I turned quickly, recognizing the voice. “Corvus?”
He pulled down his bio mask, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Hi, Annie.”
I wondered if his superior ordered him to drag it in or if he took the job knowing I’d be there.
Either way, there he was.
I watched the broad muscles in his shoulders tense up as he handled the brunt of the heavy lifting, placing the chunk of crystal shards in the corner of the greenhouse where it refracted rays of purple sunlight like a rainbow-maker.
Clapping his gloved hands together to shed the purple dust, he nodded in Mom’s direction. “Just as you wanted it, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Corvus. Isn’t that what Andromeda called you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Corvus Holmes?”
His blue eyes sparkled with amusement. “That’s right.”
Mom’s eyes darted back and forth between me and him, putting pieces of a larger puzzle together. She offered him her hand. “Nice to meet you. We should have met much sooner, and I apologize. I’ve been very busy with the greenhouses.”
“No worries, ma’am.” Corvus took her hand and shook it gently.
She smiled a little too big, and my cheeks burned. “I’ll leave you two alone, then. Annie, get to the watering before the sun dries out our best crop yet.”
“Yes, Mom.”
With a wink in my direction, she led the other men out of the greenhouse and left me there with Corvus and a whole lot of awkward tension.
“How’s your leg? I heard you sprained your ankle.”
I looked into his cool blue eyes and searched for something more. Could he make me feel the way Sirius did? Sirius had tempting warmth in his dark eyes and Corvus’s light blue ones were calm and cold as jewels. “It’s not too bad. I can still get around.”
“Good.” He picked up a fallen leaf and twirled it between his thumb and forefinger. “Listen, they’re having a celebration tonight: a light show with dancing and techno music.”
I’d heard about it but I wasn’t planning on going. My ankle throbbed, and I still had a lot of work left to do from procrastinating all day. “Yeah, I know.”
“Do you want to go with me? I heard they’ll let us take off our masks.”
I shifted my weight to relieve the soreness under my arm. “No masks?”
“Yeah, they said the air’s safe by the shore. They’ve cleared so much of the jungle back that there are no plants for at least half a mile around.”
I shook my head. “I’ve got a lot of work left to do.”
I didn’t even have to make up the excuse. I really did have a lot of work to do, and my crutch made everything so laboriously slow. Besides, Sirius would be taking Nova, and I didn’t know if I could face watching the two of them together.
He reached out, brushing a leaf down my arm. I marveled at how someone so big could be so gentle. “If I help you finish, will you go?”
I touched my arm where the leaf tickled my skin. I did have a lot of work to do, and I didn’t want to be alone with that chunk of crystal.
“Deal.” I stuck out my hand.
Instead of shaking it, he threaded his large fingers through mine. “What can I do to help?”
“Um…” I glanced down at our intertwined hands. As much as I wanted to hate him, I liked the attention. “The irrigation ditches need to be dug, and all the plants need to be watered.”
“That’s easy.”
I
suppose
digging ditches was easy compared to hauling statue-sized crystals around. Especially if you had superhero muscles. But I didn’t appreciate anyone thinking my job was easy. I pulled my hand back and crossed my arms. “Easy when you have both working legs.”
“True.” He smiled apologetically. “Where do I start?”
I pointed to the corner of the room where Mom stored the gardening tools. Corvus worked quietly, as if it took all of his focus to get the job done. His large hands were steady, leveling the dirt around the base of each plant and threading the hose through the intricate root systems. Mom would be surprised when she checked in the morning.
He walked me back to my family unit on the ship so I could change out of my dirt-stained uniform. As we walked up the ramp above the sloshing water, the need to thank him overcame me.
“You didn’t have to help me today. I owe you one.”
Corvus shrugged, his broad shoulders moving like a ripple in two mountains. “No problem. I’d finished my work early, so I had the afternoon off.”
“Too bad you spent it doing more work.” If I’d had the afternoon off, I would have pouted in my room on the
New Dawn
all day.
“I enjoyed spending time with you.”
I shot a sideways glance at him. His cheeks reddened and he looked away at the sea, running his hand along the railing. I wondered if he had to try hard to like me or if it came naturally. Before we’d been assigned to one another, I’d hardly spoken a word to him. There was so much I didn’t know about him: what he liked and disliked, his goals, and, more important, the shape of his heart.
The question just popped out of my mouth. “Do you think what we’re doing here is right?”
He squinted his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Being here right now, building our lives on Paradise 21?” I kicked a chunk of crystal and it skimmed over the waves before plopping in the water. “It seems unnatural, as if we’re taking something that isn’t ours to take.”
“We have to keep going, Annie.” He paused and turned toward me. “If not for the Guide, then for each other.”
I wondered if he meant me and him, or our entire ship. Either way, he was right. We owed it to one another to keep life going and build a safe refuge. I thought of Mom and Dad, Grandpapa, Great-grandma Tiff, and all the other Lifers that spent their lives on the ship to get us here. I couldn’t let them down.
Corvus had so much strength it radiated out and enveloped me. He’d seemed so simple and dull before, but as I spent more time with him I caught glimpses of an inner resilience and a personality much more profound. If Sirius was mercury, then Corvus was granite, solid and dependable, a person I could latch onto in a time of so much flux. Could I love him?
We entered the ship and he walked me to my family unit.
“Meet you on the dock at sunset?”
I pressed my palm to the panel, and the portal dematerialized. “Sure thing.”
He waited, staring at me with an intense, level gaze as the portal re-materialized between us.
“Hanging out with Corvus?” Dad sat at the table, eating leftovers from last night’s meal. Now, with the special crystals in the soil, even the leftovers tasted sublime.
“A little.” I walked past him to my room.
“He’s a great boy. I’ve heard wonderful things about him from the construction team.”
Dad tried to be supportive, but his acceptance of Corvus, when he’d been less than nice to Sirius, irked me. “I’ve got to go wash up for the festival tonight.”
“Sure.” Dad pushed a plate over to me. “Make sure you have some dinner first.”
I sat down and spooned some rice and steamed peas on my plate. “Where’s Mom?”
“She’s down in the biodome preparing the remaining seed containers for transfer to the greenhouses.”
It hit me again: we really were stuck here, and the ship would soon be left behind, discarded like a shell grown too small. “Shouldn’t we keep some here just in case?”
“The engines are failing.” Dad suddenly looked years older than middle age. His fork stopped in mid stab, and he placed it down on the plate with a pea the size of a grape impaled on its end. “Once the gears stop spinning, the entire ship will lose power and sink.”
Abandoning the ship was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard. What if we needed it for shelter? What if we had to leave Paradise 21? I had to remind myself it wasn’t built for another takeoff. “Can’t we drag it closer to shore?”
My father shrugged. “What’s the point? The ship is beyond repair. Right now we need to focus all our energy on the projects for our future, not the preservation of our past. We’ve constructed new buildings, established a new home.”
A rising feeling of dread squelched my appetite. “What about Grandpapa?”
“We can take out a chunk of the mainframe, enough to keep him alive, and transport him to the shore, but he’s growing weaker each day. Even now, he’s in the process of appointing a new commander.”
I looked down at the peas on my plate. “I want him to live forever. I never want to have to say goodbye like I did to Great-grandma Tiff.”
“I know you do.” Dad touched my hand gently. “Which is why I’m speaking to you about it now, preparing you for another round of change in our lives. Annie, life
is
change. To deny it is to turn your back on the way of the universe. Grandpapa’s bypassed the circle of life for so long. He’s grown tired. I know he wants to rest, to put things to an end, as they rightfully should be.”
I had no idea how it felt to live through three generations, to cheat death with the help of a machine. It wasn’t my place to judge him, yet anger rose inside me and I washed it down with a gulp of water.
“Enough of this sad and dark talk. Go have fun at the festival tonight. Grandpapa still oversees the operations. You still have time to visit him.”
“All right.” I hadn’t spoken with Grandpapa since the argument about Sirius and Corvus. Although I’d forgiven him for not helping me, I’d put off any further visits partly out of embarrassment over my actions and shame for not believing in the system he worked so hard to uphold. I made a mental note to break down those barriers soon, because his days were numbered, just as they were for each one of us.
I managed a few bites before slipping into my favorite long nanofiber dress, and met Corvus on the dock just as the sun set in a lavender blush. I’d let my hair out of its braid and it flowed in crinkly waves down my back. The breeze lifted up stray strands to mingle with the laces of my dress. Despite the doctor’s suggestion, I’d left my crutch at home. I flew down the dock, riding on the currents of fate.
Corvus wore a loose-fitting white shirt and civilian microfiber pants. He looked different without his uniform: less of an expectation and more of a person. The wind blew his shirt tight across his back, and I noticed his wide shoulder blades under the thin fabric.
Stop staring before he catches you.
I straightened up, smoothing my hair behind my ear. “Ahem.”
Corvus turned from the railing and held out his hand. “Annie, you look gorgeous.”
“Thank you.” I bowed slightly to acknowledge him. Behind us, colonists tied streamers to the dock posts, the ribbons rustling in the breeze. Tech specialists tested the amps for the music. Hearing the low off-beats made my blood bubble with excitement.
“Come on, they’re serving nectar drinks on the beach.”
He helped me down the steps of the dock, and my feet sank into the black crystal sand. I followed him to the lapping waves. A swirl of water gushed up to my feet and I hopped backward on my good leg, laughing.
“Close call, huh?” Corvus soaked in the sight of me as if he stared at his dream come alive. The intensity in his eyes made me embarrassed and self-conscious. I turned away, hiding behind the falling veil of my hair.
“I’m not supposed to get the bandages on my ankle wet.” I glanced up.
His lips curled in amusement. “A likely excuse.”
His teasing made me giggle. “What are they serving at the outpost stand?”
“It’s a new juice made from the nectar of the flowers here.”
“What does it taste like?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Let’s find out.” He eyed my bandaged foot. “Why don’t you stay here. I’ll get us some.”
“Okay.” I watched him run up the beach and disappear into the crowd. My eyes scanned the congregation. I dreaded the sight of Sirius with Nova, but I couldn’t help but wonder if they were happy.
“Where’s your crutch?”
I whirled around and there Sirius stood, framed by the setting sun. The breeze tossed his hair around his face. The bridge of his perfect nose was dusted with a bronze glow, as if he’d spent too long outside the ship without his mask.